To address Mayor Karen Bass’ order that city departments fast-track approval of 100% affordable housing projects, the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners on Tuesday, March 14, adopted a pilot program dubbed “Project PowerHouse” to save housing developers time and money.
The program allows developers of 100% affordable housing projects to move to the front of the line when seeking a review of an application by the city’s Department of Water and Power, and helps determine a project’s power service needs upfront, as long as the city is under a declared homelessness emergency.
The motion the commissioners passed also states that during the city’s homelessness emergency, the LADWP will bear the cost of any public right-of-way power infrastructure upgrades – saving a developer potentially millions of dollars, according to board President Cynthia McClain-Hill.
Bass underscored the importance of the board’s action following its unanimous vote.
“We know that accelerating and lowering the costs of affordable and permanent supportive housing projects are essential to our agenda to urgently increase housing production in Los Angeles and save lives,” the mayor said in a statement. “We must continue to take bold action to confront this crisis.”
Under Project PowerHouse, developers proposing 100% affordable housing projects would work closely with LADWP staff early on to determine their power needs, rather than near the end of the approval process with the city’s planning department.
Other goals of the pilot program are to support developers of 100% affordable housing projects by eliminating the cost to route power to a project site, and to substantially reduce the time it takes to approve a project’s onsite electric service plans.
The motion directs LADWP staff to create a task force to support developers of 100% affordable and permanent supportive housing projects, hold pre-development meetings with qualifying developers to plan…
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