The California Housing Department gave credit to Los Angeles for targeting so much growth before telling the city it needed to do more.

"Los Angeles must rezone to accommodate an additional quarter-million new homes by mid-October after state housing regulators rejected the city’s long-term plan for growth," report Liam Dillon and David Zahniser for the Los Angeles Times. The city released its Housing Element of the General Plan, dubbed the Plan to House L.A., in December. At the time, city officials and headlines touted the plan's commitment to accommodating up to 500,000 new homes.
Now the whole plan is at risk of failing before the state's deadline. Gustavo Velasquez, director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development, sent the letter informing the city of its need to do more to create space for affordable housing and credited the city for its progress on the issue before breaking the bad news. The penalty for not completing the rezoning on time: billions of dollars in affordable housing grants. "Without the money, the production of new housing for low-income and homeless residents throughout L.A. would take a massive hit at a time when more than 41,000 people are homeless and soaring rents and the COVID-19 pandemic are making it harder for Angelenos to stay in their homes," add Dillon and Zahniser.
Los Angeles is not alone in falling short of the state's strict new standards for the state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Assessment process. "Currently, just seven local governments in Southern California have state-approved housing plans. Another 190 are now out of compliance," according to the article. Chris Elmendorf, cited as "a UC Davis law professor who has been following the housing element process," is quoted the article describing the state's actions as "bonkers" and predicting that lumping L.A. in with cities more aggressively resisting the state's requirements (like Pasadena and Santa Monica, for two examples nearby) could backfire by delegitimize the housing department’s actions.
FULL STORY: L.A. must add more than 250,000 homes to zoning plan by October, state rules

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the New Design Thinking
Creativity has long been key to great urban design. What if we see AI as our new creative partner?

How Trump's HUD Budget Proposal Would Harm Homelessness Response
Experts say the change to the HUD budget would make it more difficult to identify people who are homeless and connect them with services, and to prevent homelessness.

The Vast Potential of the Right-of-Way
One writer argues that the space between two building faces is the most important element of the built environment.

Florida Seniors Face Rising Homelessness Risk
High housing costs are pushing more seniors, many of them on a fixed income, into homelessness.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Jefferson Parish Government
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont