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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The City Council voted Wednesday to proceed with a plan to streamline 100% affordable housing projects in Los Angeles that would lead to 45 new positions across five city departments to help expedite processes and procedures.
According to a motion filed by Councilwoman Nithya Raman last year, just 6% of housing projects approved in the city since 2015 were fully affordable. The timeline to approve such projects can take up to 58 months, according to a report by the city's planning department.
"Here in L.A., we've made it so long and so hard for us to get that stuff built," Raman said at Wednesday's council meeting. "Through this work, through these additional positions, we can reduce that time by a year or more."
The council provided instruction to various departments, which included removing site plan review thresholds for affordable housing projects that meet objective standards and prioritizing appeals to the Board of Building and Safety Commissioners on 100% affordable housing projects.
It also sought a report from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on recommendations for how it could streamline the approval and permitting process for fully affordable housing projects.