- Christopher Rhie (Courtesy photo)
Los Angeles faces two urgent challenges: a severe housing shortage driving up housing costs and increasingly intense climate change impacts—like the recent heat wave. These crises are deeply connected, rooted in our city’s history of artificially low-density, sprawling development, which has worsened both affordability and the environment.
Fortunately, Mayor Bass and other local leaders can address both issues through a single solution: infill housing, the practice of building new homes on vacant or underused land within existing urban areas
Housing operates as a regional system. When LA fails to produce enough housing, prices and rents increase, and residents are pushed to more affordable areas like the Santa Clarita Valley and the Inland Empire. This urban sprawl destroys wild habitats and leads to longer commutes, greater heat exposure, and homes that require more water and air conditioning. It worsens traffic, air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions, all exacerbating climate change.
The better alternative for our wallets, health, and environment is to “fill in” our city through infill housing. This could mean replacing a parking lot with apartments or building townhomes where a single-family home once stood. Infill housing helps alleviate the housing shortage while reducing the city’s environmental footprint by creating walkable neighborhoods where people are less dependent on cars for their day-to-day lives.
Unfortunately, most of LA is locked into single-family zoning, a rule that only allows standalone homes—often the most expensive and land-intensive type. This outdated policy blocks affordable options like duplexes, townhomes, and garden apartments, keeping many Angelenos from accessing neighborhoods with better schools, jobs, and amenities. Meanwhile, areas that do allow affordable forms of housing, such as South LA and Koreatown, carry an unfair burden in developing the new units that our city desperately needs.
Los Angeles has a long history of powerful people using housing policies to segregate people by race and income. While current residents didn’t create single-family zoning, its continued existence perpetuates inequality and environmental harm. Lower-income residents are pushed farther from job-rich areas in search of affordable housing. This pattern is so pervasive across American cities that, at the recent 2024 Democratic National Convention, President Obama urged, “We need to build more units and clear away some of the outdated laws and regulations that make it harder to build homes for working people in this country.’”
Mayor Bass has a crucial opportunity to lead by allowing more diverse housing types across all neighborhoods, not just the 12% zoned for multi-family housing. Encouraging more affordable and walkable housing options can make high-opportunity areas accessible to more people. The Westside, for instance, has four times as many jobs as homes, highlighting a clear need for more housing.
Infill housing is essential for a sustainable future. Research shows that for every 1% increase in housing density, carbon emissions per person decrease almost equally. Denser, multi-family housing fosters walkable communities and efficient public transit, reducing reliance on cars—a major source of emissions and air pollution. Allowing more homes to be built in existing neighborhoods, especially near jobs and transit, could cut LA’s carbon emissions by 40% or more.
Imagine a city where people can walk to work or local spots, where excellent public transit and safe sidewalks are accessible to all, and where housing is abundant and affordable. This vision is possible in LA if we embrace infill housing and the inclusive, sustainable neighborhoods it brings.
We must urge Mayor Bass and our city leaders to adopt overdue housing reforms. Contact your City Councilmember and ask for more affordable, climate-friendly housing in your neighborhood. For more information on how to get involved, visit AbundantHousingLA.org.
Awoenam Mauna-Woanya, Christopher Rhie, Christopher K. Tokita represent Abundant Housing LA & Urban Environmentalists.
