March 2025
Jump to: Mayor Karen Bass Councilmember Soto-Martinez Senator Durazo
Mayor Karen Bass
to: karen.bass@lacity.org
subject: We urge you to oppose Senator Scott Wiener’s Senate Bill 79
Mayor Bass,
We urge you to oppose Senator Scott Wiener’s Senate Bill 79 that will allow apartments as high as 75 feet in single family neighborhoods and light industrial zones that are a half-mile from bus stops and rail lines. Los Angeles’s recently approved Housing Element clearly demonstrates our ability to meet the State’s housing mandate at every level of affordability without densifying single-family neighborhoods and light industrial zones (impacting future job growth).
Our City transit maps illustrate the widespread impact this bill will have from the Valley to San Pedro, from Venice to Downtown, including all of our historically significant neighborhoods (HPOZs) like Adams/Normandie, Lincoln Heights, Balboa Highlands, Carthay Circle, Spaulding and Sunset Squares.
Communities are already densifying transit and commercial corridors through their Community Plans without the need for SB 79 to randomly open single-family neighborhoods and industrial zones.
To make matters worse, this bill does not require any affordable housing units. Developers will select to build SB 79 housing rather than selecting any of the affordability incentives in the CHIP Ordinance. This will retard the city’s ability to achieve its need for affordable housing as well as being able to meet the State’s RHNA mandate.
As more single-family homes are replaced by apartments, this bill will encourage an exodus of middle and working-class families who desire homeownership to create the generational wealth the City always proclaims it wants to encourage.
The Planning Department has spent several years and millions of dollars to create a Housing Element that answers all the State and Federal requirements while creating more affordable housing in our high resource areas and protecting our communities from needless densification. SB 79 makes that effort meaningless.
We ask for your leadership in opposing SB 79 unless amended to remove single family and light industrial zoned areas and historic districts from the bill.
Thank you,
Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez
to: councilmember.soto-martinez@lacity.org
subject: We urge you to oppose Senator Scott Wiener’s Senate Bill 79
Dear Councilmember Soto-Martinez,
We urge you to oppose Senator Scott Wiener’s Senate Bill 79 that will allow apartments as high as 75 feet in single family neighborhoods and light industrial zones that are a half-mile from bus stops and rail lines. Los Angeles’s recently approved Housing Element clearly demonstrates our ability to meet the State’s housing mandate at every level of affordability without densifying single-family neighborhoods and light industrial zones (impacting future job growth).
Our City transit maps illustrate the widespread impact this bill will have from the Valley to San Pedro, from Venice to Downtown, including all of our historically significant neighborhoods (HPOZs) like Adams/Normandie, Lincoln Heights, Balboa Highlands, Carthay Circle, Spaulding and Sunset Squares.
Communities are already densifying transit and commercial corridors through their Community Plans without the need for SB 79 to randomly open single-family neighborhoods and industrial zones.
To make matters worse, this bill does not require any affordable housing units. Developers will select to build SB 79 housing rather than selecting any of the affordability incentives in the CHIP Ordinance. This will retard the city’s ability to achieve its need for affordable housing as well as being able to meet the State’s RHNA mandate.
As more single-family homes are replaced by apartments, this bill will encourage an exodus of middle and working-class families who desire homeownership to create the generational wealth the City always proclaims it wants to encourage.
The Planning Department has spent several years and millions of dollars to create a Housing Element that answers all the State and Federal requirements while creating more affordable housing in our high resource areas and protecting our communities from needless densification. SB 79 makes that effort meaningless.
We ask for your leadership in opposing SB 79 unless amended to remove single family and light industrial zoned areas and historic districts from the bill.
Thank you,
State Senator Maria Elena Durazo
to: senator.durazo@senate.ca.gov
subject: We urge you to oppose Senator Scott Wiener’s Senate Bill 79
Dear Senator Durazo,
We urge you to oppose Senator Scott Wiener’s Senate Bill 79 that will allow apartments as high as 75 feet in single family neighborhoods and light industrial zones that are a half-mile from bus stops and rail lines. Los Angeles’s recently approved Housing Element clearly demonstrates our ability to meet the State’s housing mandate at every level of affordability without densifying single-family neighborhoods and light industrial zones (impacting future job growth).
Our City transit maps illustrate the widespread impact this bill will have from the Valley to San Pedro, from Venice to Downtown, including all of our historically significant neighborhoods (HPOZs) like Adams/Normandie, Lincoln Heights, Balboa Highlands, Carthay Circle, Spaulding and Sunset Squares.
Communities are already densifying transit and commercial corridors through their Community Plans without the need for SB 79 to randomly open single-family neighborhoods and industrial zones.
To make matters worse, this bill does not require any affordable housing units. Developers will select to build SB 79 housing rather than selecting any of the affordability incentives in the CHIP Ordinance. This will retard the city’s ability to achieve its need for affordable housing as well as being able to meet the State’s RHNA mandate.
As more single-family homes are replaced by apartments, this bill will encourage an exodus of middle and working-class families who desire homeownership to create the generational wealth the City always proclaims it wants to encourage.
The Planning Department has spent several years and millions of dollars to create a Housing Element that answers all the State and Federal requirements while creating more affordable housing in our high resource areas and protecting our communities from needless densification. SB 79 makes that effort meaningless.
We ask for your leadership in opposing SB 79 unless amended to remove single family and light industrial zoned areas and historic districts from the bill.
Thank you,