Full Citation
Title: Can Adaptive Reuse of Commercial Real Estate Address the Housing Crisis in Los Angeles?
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2022
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DOI: 10.7249/RRA1333-1
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Abstract: The sixth cycle of the octennial California Regional Housing Needs Assessment indicates that, over the next eight years, the City of Los Angeles needs to plan for the creation of nearly 260,000 homes for families earning 30 percent to 80 percent of area median income and for the creation of 197,000 units for families earning more than that amount. Meeting this goal would require the production of more than 100,000 homes per year over the next eight years, with more than 50 percent of them available at affordable rents. The magnitude of the region’s housing needs has led many policymakers and other stakeholders to call for an all-of-the-above approach to expanding the housing supply that includes increasing the production of both publicly funded affordable housing and market-rate housing, incentivizing increased density for infill housing projects, doubling down on such innovations as modular housing, and increasing support for the preservation of the existing affordable housing stock. In this report, we attempt to inform such an approach by focusing on one channel that could be an important part of the overall approach: the adaptive reuse (AR) of underutilized commercial real estate (CRE) as multiunit housing. The objectives of this report were to (1) generate evidence on the potential capacity of AR to bolster the supply of housing in the region, (2) assess how recent trends in prices and utilization rates of CRE affect the financial feasibility of AR, (3) explore how the geographic distribution of underutilized CRE coincides with social and environmental goals related to the siting of housing, and (4) assess how the distinct aspects of AR projects and relevant policy might affect the feasibility of this approach in terms of meeting regional housing goals. This research was conducted by the RAND Center for Housing and Homelessness in Los Angeles (CHHLA), part of the Community Health and Environmental Policy Program within RAND’s Social and Economic Well-Being division. The CHHLA is focused on providing policymakers and stakeholders with timely research and analysis to address the dual crises of housing affordability and homelessness in the Los Angeles region and beyond. For more information, visit www.rand.org/chhla.
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Authors: Ward, Jason M.; Schwam, Daniel
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Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS
Topics: Housing and Segregation, Labor Force and Occupational Structure
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