California is suffering from a housing shortage. While the problem is complicated, Simon Ha of Steinberg Hart says that a provision in the general plan should require cities to meet housing needs. General plans throughout California are routinely updated, and cities are required to meet the needs for housing based on current and projected population.

“The general plan's housing element gets updated every eight years,” Ha, the head of Steinberg Hart's mixed-use practice, tells GlobeSt.com. “The state sends regional housing assessment numbers to each county or city, and the city then has to try to meet the housing goals. There is a component of the general plan where the general plan has to meet the housing needs of the projected population growth.”

For example, according to Ha, Los Angeles' general plan was last updated in 2013, and estimated a need for 82,000 new apartment units, half of which were affordable housing. While that should be good news, there is no penalty for cities that don't comply, and with building tension between residents and developers, cities have instead opted to limit new construction. “The general plan is saying that we need a certain amount of housing, but if you don't meet it, there really isn't a penalty,” says Ha. “At the local level, we have seen pro-housing people getting voted out, and now the state is coming in and saying that local governments aren't solving the problem. That is what the state is trying to set up. Now, you see Gavin Newsom suing cities like Huntington Beach for failing to produce housing.”

Other submarkets, however, haven't updated the general plan. Hollywood, for example, is working with a 1989 plan, according to Ha. “The planning department has been saying it would release a draft for two years, but they have not yet released a draft and continued the process,” he says. “Now, we have other community plans coming through.”

Even with general plan updates, community pushback against new development is a major challenge to building more housing supply, and communities will likely play a role in updating the plans. “The mayor said that the city is going to update all of the general plans for the next 8 years, but when you try to change the general plan, there is often a lot of friction,” adds Ha. “Boyle Heights and Central City North is facing a lot of opposition from organizations that are anti-gentrification. There are a couple of groups that are going to oppose changes to those plans or that tries to create housing in those neighborhoods. A lot of those groups don't believe that producing more housing increases affordability.”

Instant Insights /

Why Cities Aren't Supplying Housing Needs

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