INCLUSIONARY ZONING IN LONG BEACH
FEBRUARY 20TH TESTIFY ON INCLUSIONARY ZONING IN
LONG BEACH

On Thursday February 20th, the Long Beach Planning Commission is set to hear the City's Inclusionary Zoning Policy. BIA-LAV is advocating against a mandated policy and instead suggesting a voluntary, incentive-based program. Adding costs to housing construction through a mandated inclusionary zoning policy, in the midst of a housing crisis, is absolutely the wrong approach.
TAKE ACTION
PLANNING COMMISSION HEARING INFORMATION

Join BIA-LAV in voicing your concerns at next Thursday's hearing:


Date: Thursday - February 20, 2020
Time: 5:00 PM 
Location: City Council Chamber
( 411 W Ocean Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90802 )
DOCUMENT LINKS


For questions, please contact BIA-LAV Director of Government Affairs, Diana Coronado, here .
MORE INFORMATION
TALKING POINTS


  • Suggested Alternative: Instead of a mandated approach, as illustrated in sub-market two of the policy, a voluntary inclusionary program could be applied across the City, including sub-market one. This provides home builders the ability to incorporate affordable housing units within their projects through the provision of offsets to balance the additional costs.
  • Increased Cost to Housing: Any increase in housing construction costs, such as this inclusionary policy, pushes working families and individuals further from housing affordability and exacerbates the “missing middle” housing gap. Costs, like inclusionary zoning expenses, continue to rise making housing too expensive to build and still deliver a product that’s affordable to middle-income earners. Applying a potentially unworkable inclusionary zoning policy to residential development will likely make the situation worse, not better.
  • Eliminate For-Sale Applicability: Applying inclusionary zoning policies to for-sale housing is not financially feasible for home builders, as outlined in the Beacon Economics Study. Additionally, a 2016 Study by Capitol Matrix found that a potential 15% inclusionary zoning mandate on for-sale housing would require an average increase of $67,000 thousand dollars per market priced unit.