Los Angeles Briefs: City Awarded Funding for Neighborhood Accessibility and Housing and “Vanlords” Target Unhoused Residents

City Awarded Funding to Improve Neighborhood Accessibility, Use City-Owned Land for Housing

LOS ANGELES – Mayor Bass announced Oct. 17 that the City of Los Angeles was awarded three grants from the Southern California Association of Governments or SCAG to pursue strategic uses of city-owned land for housing, explore reconnecting MacArthur Park and link Warner Center as an active transportation hub to jobs and housing. 

Strategically Using City-Owned Land for Housing

The Housing Department was awarded $2,900,000 in funding from the SCAG to support the city’s approach to addressing the homelessness crisis through the use of city-owned property as required by Mayor Bass’ third executive directive. 

The grant will help reenvision how the city uses its assets and how it partners with other public agencies to maximize housing production on infill public lands. The program seeks to develop a pipeline of sites for housing by assessing public lands, parking lots and smaller sites, evaluating creative financing approaches, and bundling sites for future Requests for Proposals. 

Reconnecting MacArthur Park

The City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation or LADOT partnered with Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez to secure $500,000 in SCAG funding to study the traffic impacts of closing a portion of the street that runs through the middle of MacArthur Park. LADOT will partner with council district one to conduct extensive community engagement on the concept of changing the street configuration.

“Reconnecting MacArthur Park will bring L.A.’s first major pedestrianized street to one of our most densely populated neighborhoods,” said Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez. “This community-led project will restore the park to its original state before it was cut in two during the 1930’s and will be a major step forward in addressing the historic inequities that impact the surrounding area. I am excited to begin this project and I look forward to working with Central City Neighborhood Partners, the Department of Transportation, and our Westlake and Pico Union residents to bring this to life.”

Linking Warner Center as an Active Transportation Hub to Jobs and Housing

Councilmember Blumenfield, in partnership with StreetsLA, secured a $500,000 grant from SCAG to develop an active transportation plan for the Warner Center in the West San Fernando Valley. Since the adoption of a new specific plan in 2013, Warner Center has seen rapid growth, including permitting or construction of more than 10,000 new housing units.

“Vanlords” Held Accountable for Targeting Unhoused Residents, Proliferating RV Encampments

LOS ANGELES — This week, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion authored by Supervisors Holly J. Mitchell and Kathryn Barger, to prevent vanlords – people who rent recreational vehicles to people experiencing homelessness – from continuing to profit off the homelessness crisis and to hold them accountable in fostering unsafe living conditions. The motion calls for a report back in 90 days on potential county ordinances that will help significantly lessen the sale, lease, or rental of recreational vehicles or RVs that are in the public right-of-way to help reduce the number of RV encampments countywide.  

Over the past three years, LA County has seen a significant increase in RV encampments in unincorporated communities. To address this issue, in 2022, the Board of Supervisors approved a motion to establish a countywide RV pilot program that is now a key component of the county’s Pathway Home initiative.  

Since the roll-out of the RV encampment resolution pilot, the county has learned of the critical role vanlords play in perpetuating the RV encampment crisis and the underground economy that is associated with it. 

Details: https://tinyurl.com/restricting-RV-rentals