By Maria Patiño Gutierrez, Deputy Director, Policy and Advocacy
May 29, 2025
In December 2022, just a month after she was elected, Mayor Karen Bass issued Executive Directive 1 (ED1) to speed up the production of much-needed affordable housing in Los Angeles. ED1 streamlines development by making it easier to secure permits, clearances, and approvals for projects that are 100% affordable to renters at or below 80% of the Area Median Income.
ED1 was (and is) a good idea, but there are some problems. One big one: many of the projects proposed under ED1 require the demolition of existing rent-stabilized (LARSO) units. This threatens to displace hundreds of residents, many of whom cannot afford to move elsewhere in their neighborhoods or the city. Los Angeles City Planning Department records show that out of the 334 applications filed under ED1 between December 16, 2022, and July 1, 2024, 126 were buildings where LARSO protections were in place, with 732 LARSO units at risk of demolition. SAJE also found that many tenants were not aware of their potential right to return to these new developments once completed.
On July 1, 2024, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a third revision to ED1 to address this problem. The amendments included exempting LARSO buildings of 12 or more units from ED1 streamlining, improving and expanding the resources available to renters who are displaced because of ED1 projects, and creating a Priority Occupancy process to give those renters priority placement in other subsidized or covenanted affordable housing developments.
So have these revisioned helped protect renters and preserve our existing affordable housing?
According to data we obtained from the Los Angeles City Planning Department, between July 1, 2024, and May 6, 2025, there were 76 new ED1 applications, and 31 of them proposed to replace buildings with 12 or fewer LARSO units, affecting 124 units in total. The majority of these proposals apply to properties comprising duplexes (9), triplexes (8), and fourplexes (6), with two developments proposed in buildings with 10 units. This brings the total number of LARSO buildings facing potential demolition to 157, totalling 856 units.
We continue to be concerned that LARSO units are being demolished and continue to advocate for a policy that does not contribute to the displacement of L.A.’s working-class renters. We would like to see all LARSO units exempted from streamlining. To learn about the amendments we’d like to see to ED1, click here.
