This week, Los Angeles City Hall is considering an update of the Hollywood Community Plan. L.A. officials must come up with policies that address gentrification and the housing affordability and homelessness crises — not fuel those long-standing problems. Unfortunately, the current proposal of the Hollywood Community Plan is flawed and very problematic. Housing Is A Human Right and AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) have rolled out an advocacy campaign that demands changes.
On Thursday, February 18, at 8:30 a.m., the City Planning Commission will take input from the public about an update of the Hollywood Community Plan, an important land-use document that guides development in the Hollywood area for years to come.
Housing Is A Human Right and its parent organization, AHF, have reviewed the city’s proposal, and we’re concerned about a number of vital issues. We’re now asking the public to contact L.A. City Councilmembers Mitch O’Farrell, Nithya Raman, and Paul Koretz, whose districts lie inside the Hollywood Community Plan area, and inform them of our findings and demands.
The core of our concerns is that the Hollywood Community Plan doesn’t require any affordable housing to be built, existing tenants are not properly protected against displacement, and community members will largely lose their say over what’s developed in their neighborhoods. This is unacceptable.
“For too many years,” says Susie Shannon, Policy Director for Housing Is A Human Right, “L.A. City Hall has bent over backwards to give developers whatever they want and let them decide what our communities look like and who gets housing — and it’s not working. In fact, it’s fueling gentrification and the housing affordability and homelessness crises.”
Shannon adds, “City leaders must address our homeless crisis by providing city-owned land for homeless housing, mandate a percentage of housing be built for low-income residents, and protect the city against predatory developers. Every community plan must have a comprehensive path forward to housing our unhoused and low-income residents.”
HHR and AHF are also concerned that a flawed Hollywood Community Plan — one that benefits developers, but harms residents — will be used as a template for other community plans in Los Angeles.
HHR and AHF are now asking Angelenos to take action before Thursday’s City Planning Commission meeting. Through the Housing Is A Human Right website, people can send an email, call, and tweet O’Farrell, Raman, and Koretz. We are also urging residents to join us at the Thursday morning CPC hearing and provide public comment. HHR and AHF will continue its advocacy campaign for as long as necessary. The long-term well-being of L.A. and its residents hang in the balance.