State of Housing

Photo by Matt Sylvester

WITH ITS MIX OF APARTMENTS AND GROUND FLOOR RETAIL SPACE, THE NEWLY RE-DESIGNED AVENUE 34 POSITIONS LINCOLN HEIGHTS AS AN IMPORTANT PIECE IN LOS ANGELES’ ECONOMIC FUTURE

The shortage of housing is one of LA’s biggest current issues. Citing a report released by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), it ties the city’s challenging economic forecast directly to the housing crisis and the lack of small, reasonably priced units that can accommodate the eager yet economically challenged workforce that is the lifeblood of a region’s growth.

In fact, LAEDC economist Eric Hayes notes that housing affordability has become such an “overwhelming” issue that it is impossible to ignore. “Housing is the largest barrier to economic growth in the region,” he says. Without “significant policy action” to spur the construction of more homes, the report notes, the costs of buying and renting will only continue to rise. 

Housing affordability constraints have a significant impact on many households. These impacts include overcrowding; reduced spending on groceries and other goods; reduced healthcare spending (including lack of funds for medically-necessary prescriptions); greater separation between jobs and housing, leading to longer commutes and more traffic congestion; and out-migration of households and firms, limiting area job growth. 

According to the 2016 American Community Survey (ACS), 75% of lower-income households in the LA metro area spend more than 30% of their income on housing, and some are severely rent burdened, spending over 50% of their income on housing.  In 2017, 5.3 million households, or 41% of California’s total households, were cost-burdened, paying more than 30% of their incomes on housing. This has only worsened since the pandemic. Since about 1970, California has been experiencing an extended and increasing housing shortage, such that by 2018, California ranked 49th among the United States in housing units per resident. This shortage has been estimated to be 3-4 million housing units (20-30% of California's housing stock, 14 million as of 2017).

Basically, the housing issue in LA - and in many other cities - can be boiled down to a classic economic imbalance: lack of supply versus exploding demand. The primary factor contributing to high housing prices is its severe underproduction over the last three decades.

Understanding this challenge, The Pinyon Group and KFA, Avenue 34’s architect, re-imagined and revised the previously approved project. With an eye toward the future, the newly redesigned project actually has a smaller physical footprint but provides more units of housing, more public space, more trees, and no longer includes any commercial office use, which neighbors feared would be disruptive to the fabric of the community due to increased traffic. 16,000 sf are dedicated towards community-facing retail, such as a bank, coffee shop, corner market, or other uses the community may desire.

The original design called for 372 units with only 31 set aside as affordable. The new and improved plan adds 96 apartments for a total of 468 units, with 66 units designated as affordable and set aside for low-income residents. This is a 115% increase in affordable units from the original plan. 

Of the remaining 402 units, 250 of them will have workforce housing rents, which is generally understood to mean housing affordable to households and individuals with incomes greater than would qualify for subsidized affordable units but lower than market rate units within a  reasonable proximity to the workplace. Workforce housing is commonly targeted at "essential workers" in a community such as teachers, firemen, nurses, and those employed by local, city, and state governments. 

Consisting primarily of junior one-bedroom and one-bedroom units, Avenue 34 welcomes this sought after group of employees the opportunity of living within easy commuting distance of their jobs.