Boulevards of Opportunity for Affordable Housing

Expand existing program

UrbanFootprint

LA County needs thousands of affordable housing units near transit. But rather than displacing our neighbors and gentrifying communities, we should create verdant new neighborhoods on tree-lined “boulevards of opportunity” with moderate-density mixed-use development and housing affordable to people who are low and very-low income or homeless. LA is served by many boulevards that were once key contributors to local economies but are now marginalized, where properties are relatively inexpensive. Measure M set aside $2 billion to build bus rapid transit (BRT) along a dozen such corridors, providing an opportunity to revitalize them as appealing neighborhoods where transit riders can live. The Southern California Association of Governments once identified such boulevards as our most significant housing opportunity because they would allow us to meet our housing needs on just 2% of the region’s land. LA County’s affordable housing crisis compels renewed attention to this opportunity.

Move LA has successfully engaged civic leaders and organizations and formed coalitions to address countywide issues before, e.g. Measures R (‘08) and M (‘16) to provide $120 billion for transit, and Measure H (‘17) to provide $360 million/year for housing and services for the homeless. Using boulevards of opportunity to address the affordable housing crisis marries our knowledge of transit and affordable housing policies and our familiarity with the tools of local government. Because funding will be needed to improve these boulevards, Move LA sponsored SB 961 (Sen. Allen), signed into law in 2018, to enable cities to create redevelopment-style districts along transit corridors. With our deep understanding of community development, our successful history working to build robust and durable coalitions, and our understanding of how to leverage public funds, we are uniquely positioned to show cities how to do it and create a model program for others to learn from.

We will consider our work successful if our outreach to cities results in at least one city or Council of Governments (COG) expressing interest in a boulevard planning process that can become a model for other cities. Move LA Executive Director Denny Zane had this experience when he was mayor of Santa Monica in the 1980s and led the revitalization of the city’s derelict downtown, turning it into the very successful Third Street Promenade and earning the attention of cities across the U.S. We intend to begin work with cities, the COGs, the Southern California Association of Governments and LA Metro to identify the right boulevards, develop model land-use policies allowing mixed-use multifamily development in these places, and figure out how funding tools like SB 961, the state’s Cap & Trade program, and local and county funding can be leveraged to turn land along these boulevards into neighborhoods that are desirable, affordable, walkable, bikeable and green, and with easy access to high-quality BRT lines. In order to achieve success we’ll also engage community leaders and advocates, resiliency experts, academics, planners, and affordable and market-rate developers. We’ll stage 2 symposiums to engage everyone in dialogue about the policy changes and strategies that will be required, and we’ll write a well-designed publication to share that identifies successful policies, tools and strategies for community development along these boulevards of opportunity.

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