Los Angeles County Rent Stabilization Ordinance Study

August 27, 2024 / Comments Off on Los Angeles County Rent Stabilization Ordinance Study

Amid high inflation, rising costs, and the ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, HR&A collaborated with Los Angeles County to address the critical issue of rental housing costs by developing six potential rent increase formulas for the County Board of Supervisors’ consideration. These options integrated real-world scenarios and input from renters and owners alike, aiming to address market realities, mitigate overburdensome costs, and support the needs of all parties in the rental market.

Nearly all low- and moderate-income renters in unincorporated Los Angeles County are housing cost-burdened, which means they spend more than 30% of their income on rent. Consequently, any rent increase will exacerbate housing instability for these renters and could potentially lead to evictions.

 

HR&A was proud to support the County Board of Supervisors in exploring and refining its approach to stabilizing rents and protecting tenants. As part of this work we engaged with diverse stakeholders, including tenants, advocates, and property owners, to ensure that our analysis reflected the real-world experiences and challenges of impacted groups. Our engagement supplemented analyses of rental market trends, operating costs, ongoing pandemic impacts, and the policy environment for rent stabilization in California. Based on this work, we developed six potential rent increase formulas for the Board’s consideration, and carefully evaluated each for its impact on all parties involved.

 

Our analysis and recommendations empowered the County to make an informed decision on changes to their Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protections Ordinance, with the goal of reducing housing instability and prevent evictions, while also considering the needs of landlords. This work not only supports the County’s vision for more equitable affordable housing access but also helps address a pressing community need with housing prices continuing to rise across the State.

Minimum standards for JPA-sponsored, California Middle Income Housing Conversion Transactions

September 30, 2022 / Comments Off on Minimum standards for JPA-sponsored, California Middle Income Housing Conversion Transactions

The housing supply crisis in California is being addressed through a wide range of critical yet complex public and private investments. But very few resources support new housing for middle-income households.

In the last two years, three California Joint Powers Authorities (“JPA”) and their developer partners, with approval from local governments, have originated more than $5 billion of tax-exempt bonds paired with property tax exemptions to finance acquisition of 9,000 apartments, which will be converted into affordable rentals for middle-income households. The total financing exceeds the current $3.7 billion annual allocations of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits for low- and very low-income households in California.

 

Our work with local governments across the state has been focused on ensuring that these investments maximize public benefits and meet local policy objectives. Our project evaluations help guide negotiations for this new type of transaction and illuminate the issues that local governments in California should consider before approving participation in these transactions.

 

A white paper, co-authored with the California Housing Partnership and CSG Advisors, guides our analysis approach and highlights the urgent need for local governments to carefully weigh the merits of middle-income housing JPA bond transaction proposals. As a result of this work, Assembly Member Ward proposed AB 1850 to establish minimum standards for JPA-sponsored middle-income conversion transactions.

 

Project evaluation examples include two for City of Long Beach, where we helped negotiate better terms for a 215-unit building conversion, the Oceanaire and new construction of a 580 units, the Midblock Civic Center.

 

Image courtesy of Oceanaire

Los Angeles Mental Health Services Act Housing Program

December 18, 2015 / Comments Off on Los Angeles Mental Health Services Act Housing Program

HR&A collaborated with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health to design and implement the County’s Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Housing Program. Within 12 months, the original MHSA funds were committed to 30 projects, and together with $131 million of supplemental funding added during subsequent years, the County deployed a total of $243 million to fund 92 developments with 5,400 units, 1,700 of which were targeted to vulnerable populations. 

The Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Housing Program is a voter-approved initiative charged with expanding mental health services in the state of California. Among its many initiatives is a funding allocation to each county to provide pre-development, permanent financing, and capitalized operating subsidies for new, permanent supportive housing for persons with serious mental illness who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. From 2007 to 2019, HR&A served as chief housing consultant to assist with design and implementation of deploying the County’s initial $116 million share of the MHSA Housing program to provide capital and operating subsidy loans for service-enriched, permanent supportive housing for homeless Angelenos.  

 

HR&A helped Department of Mental Health staff design a process for screening and selecting development proposals for funding, perform initial due diligence review of successful application financing plans, facilitate coordination between the department staff and other funders, and assist the department and California Housing Finance Agency to complete underwriting review of loan applications.  

 

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Learn more about the program on Los Angeles County’s Mental Health Services Act Website