A message from our friends at United Neighbors

4/10/26

Hi All,

Our Governor seems to believe that LA’s Implementation Plan for SB 79 ( C1) that defers full implementation till 2030 might be illegal and he might withhold affordable housing money from our city. The governor should know that the LA Planning Department has been working alongside the HCD (California Department of Housing and Community Development) while preparing C1, C2, and C3 options. HCD assured Planning that none of these options would run afoul of the State. The law allows cities to defer implementation under strict guidelines that the city is following.

We have met with the Planning Department about the implementation of C1. We expressed concern that the city might change prevailing setbacks in neighborhoods impacted by SB 79. Our neighborhoods have a standard setback for front, side and rear yards so that every property allows space between structures and allows room for trees to grow. Our standard setbacks are 15 ft rear yard and 5 feet side yard. It has been floated by Planning that 4 ft rear and side yards might be allowed in these SB 79 impacted neighborhoods. That makes no sense. The impact on our neighborhoods with 3-4 story buildings that are just 4 feet from the rear property line will be enormous. We showed the City that a developer could add the housing density allowed in SB 79 without changing those setbacks. The City keeps talking about the importance of open space and environmental protection and yet they are so quick to give away open space.

Also the Planning Department is currently preparing a report back to the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Committee on how to develop more housing in our neighborhoods through the Corridor Transition program and identify what has prevented more housing from being built on these corridors since the program was put in effect one year ago. We need to be part of this discussion because we know the voter approved, ULA, has been a major reason why construction has slowed tremendously in LA. Single family neighborhoods are not the problem. We will be reaching back to all of you for support as we follow this report.

We are also now looking at the state bills making their way through the legislative process. The State keeps introducing more and more bills that target our neighborhoods. We will send you the bills and our position on them shortly. Our legislators must hear from us, so they are aware of these bills. Housing bills are complicated, many of our legislators simply rely on the sponsors of these bills for guidance on how to vote. We can’t allow that. More to follow shortly….

Best,

Maria, Cindy, Jeff, Marc