Curbed LA: ‘Linkage Fee’: Plan to make developers fund affordable housing moves forward

A plan to make developers help pay for affordable housing took another key step forward Tuesday. The Los Angeles City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee approved a draft ordinance that would require commercial and residential developers to pay a fee of up to $15 for every square foot of new construction. Revenue would be funneled into a Housing Impact Trust Fund “to address the evolving and varied affordable housing needs of the city,” including the construction of new units deed restricted to tenants with qualifying incomes. The fees are expected to generate $75 million to $92 million per year. “Our goals for this linkage fee ordinance are to get at homelessness before it has a chance—to use the hundreds of millions of dollars the ordinance will generate to keep people in their homes and protect affordable housing covenants set to expire, as well as to build new affordable homes for workers and families,” said Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar, who chairs the PLUM committee.