Despite setting records last year in approving new housing, Long Beach is significantly behind in meeting state requirements to add both market-rate and affordable housing over the next six years.
The city is on pace to produce only about a quarter of the 26,502 units it is required to add by 2029 — a hefty number due in part to the city’s failure to meet housing goals set during the eight years prior to 2021.
Even more difficult, 15,346 of the units must be affordable, and the city is on pace to meet just 13% of this target.
Officials last week said it is important to consider the context of these numbers given the city’s size and composition.
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“These numbers are not a lack of progress on housing, but are quite impressive on a per capita basis within a fully built-out city,” Alejandro Sanchez-Lopez, an advance planner, told the City Council Tuesday.
There are consequences, however, if cities fail to fulfill their obligations in the Regional Housing Needs Assessment, which is conducted every eight years. If cities don’t do their part to help solve the state’s housing crisis, they could lose out on funding, and developers could be given more leeway to pursue projects, even if the city objects.
These consequences were rarely enforced in the past, but the State Legislature has taken an aggressive stance over the last few years, passing dozens of new laws intended to both entice and compel municipalities to approve new housing.
The state particularly wants to see that cities are approving affordable projects in “high resource” areas with amenities like parks, good schools and access to healthy food.
In order to get its housing plan approved by the state in 2022, Long Beach had to make room for more affordable housing in these wealthier neighborhoods that are typically zoned for single-family homes — and where affordable projects often meet resistance.
The numbers
In 2022 and 2023, Long Beach added 2,714 new housing units, about 10% of its overall housing target. Of those new units, only 511 were affordable, roughly 3% of the city’s overall target in this category.
The city, however, is limited to some extent in what it can do; it can only enable residential development through zoning, entitlement and permitting.
Last year the city entitled nearly 3,000 new housing units, with nearly 650 of these affordable — both annual records. However, it issued only 1,011 permits to build — the final stage before construction can begin — and all of them were market rate.
Two-thirds of those new permits in 2023 were for accessory dwelling units, also a new record, officials said. Long Beach is now the per capita leader in the state for this type of construction.
Long Beach has also been lauded by housing proponents for a policy adopted in 2021 that lets developers build more units than allowed by law — and win other perks, like freedom from parking requirements — if they include affordable units in their project. The city’s so-called “enhanced density bonus” goes beyond even what the state requires.
Officials also credited the city’s emergency declaration in early 2023 over homelessness for giving them more power to approve projects faster.
Despite this, city officials concede they will have to do more, particularly with regard to incentives and requirements for developers to build affordable housing.
What’s in store
The city has taken initial steps in what will likely be a long process to require affordable housing in all large developments, citywide. Currently, this requirement, known as “inclusionary housing,” only applies to projects in Downtown and Midtown.
Officials said this week that 168 affordable units have been entitled in the city as a direct result of its existing, but limited, inclusionary housing policy adopted in 2021.
Officials are also exploring an affordable housing incentive program for those who build ADUs, which are rapidly growing in popularity: If the owner agrees to rent their ADU to someone with a housing voucher, they could receive help with construction costs.
The city has also embarked on a significant effort to rezone areas throughout the city, starting with Central, North, Bixby Knolls and West Long Beach — though some of these efforts have been delayed due to staffing shortages at City Hall, officials said Tuesday.
And planning officials said it will be critical for the city to approve affordable housing projects in wealthier areas that are already in the pipeline, including one in Bixby Knolls and the other near the Traffic Circle.