Local Initiatives Support Corporation (“LISC”) has recently introduced the concept of eliminating the City of Los Angeles’ minimum lot size requirement in residential zones to allow for the development of residential housing suitable for middle-income families. This paper summarizes the analysis London Moeder Advisors (“LMA”) undertook to test the extent to which the LISC proposal would achieve its objective of lowering these price points.
In summary, the LISC proposal has the objective of achieving the following:
- Create a zoning overlay covering selected parcels that have a current use of a single-dwelling unit, or single-family home. The overlay should allow for the ministerial subdivision of the lot with no lot minimums to create small-lot homes for families.
- Townhome or row home style projects would be expected to gradually replace single family homes on singular lots. The expectation is that their interior space would meet or exceed the size of current single-family homes, but back and front yard exterior spaces would be reduced or eliminated.
- The units would be vertically constructed at two-to-three levels.
- By lowering the minimum lot standards, an opportunity is created to build several homes on a parcel that currently includes only one single-family dwelling
The focus of this study is to test the extent to which a more efficient use of parcels would reduce the sales price to consumers of the delivered housing product.
To achieve this, LMA conducted pricing analyses of six Los Angeles neighborhoods. We have concluded that by reducing the minimum size of single-family lots, new family-focused housing can be offered at an average of 42% lower than existing single-family homes. This report details our analysis. To ensure that our pro forma analysis is achievable under various design scenarios LMA has consulted with architects who have tested various design approaches that might emanate from this policy change.