Construction of new commuter rail stations often sparks adjacent development of high-end condos and restaurants, with mom-and-pop operators priced out of the market. Now L.A. Metro plans to bank land and halt gentrification.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board has voted to buy up land early in the planning process, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. It will then sell parcels to affordable housing developers with rules that ensure low rents and prohibit speculation.
“It is really a sound idea, to not only create affordable housing but to preserve it — to preserve communities that have been there so long that tend to get priced out when there’s any kind of a change,” said L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, a member of the Metro board.
Examples abound. In Highland Park, the Gold Line has spurred higher rents, while its longtime Latino community is being displaced by professionals who commute via the train to Downtown L.A.
In Pasadena, luxury apartments and upscale restaurants have popped up next to its Gold Line station, while the Red Line subway in North Hollywood has kicked off a building boom. A new Van Nuys rail line raises similar worries about existing residents being forced out.
County and transit leaders are concerned about rising prices near new stops along a rail-to-rail project through South Los Angeles, which could displace minority residents.
They’re also worried about a planned West Santa Ana branch line linking Downtown and working-class communities from unincorporated Florence-Graham to Vernon, Huntington Park, Bell, Cudahy, South Gate, Downey, Paramount, Bellflower, Cerritos and Artesia.
Another area of concern includes land speculation along the Los Angeles River.
The county earmarked $50 million for the land bank, and has targeted 22 new project sites along the 51-mile-long river corridor. The idea is to buy land for affordable housing and housing for homeless residents.
Metro is studying a partnership with L.A. County’s Community Land Trust Partnership Pilot Program. The county would buy land near a Metro project, while Metro would hold and manage the land, then sell it to an affordable housing developer. This fall, Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins will issue a report explaining how the land bank partnership would work.
In June 2021, Metro updated its housing policy to include land banking. But the transit agency can’t buy land unless it’s needed for a transit project. Even then, it can only do so after the project’s environmental documents are approved.
The county has no restrictions, so it can buy land at any time. That’s why the partnership between Metro and the county is key, officials said.
“Unfortunately, developers have seen this (L.A. River Plan, Metro rail projects) as a prime opportunity to gentrify communities,” Supervisor Hilda Solis, who serves on the L.A. Metro board, said in a statement. “It can be difficult for affordable housing developers to compete for land.”
[Los Angeles Daily News] — Dana Bartholomew
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