Los Angeles County is at risk of losing 14,000 affordable rentals over the next five years as property owners begin to take advantage of the county’s prospering housing market, NBC4 media partner KPCC reports.
As a condition to receive financing or permission to build, property owners priced their apartments at below-market rates for about 40 years. But as these agreements begin to expire, some property owners are looking to profit with the market values on the housing market.
About 14,000 units across 232 buildings are at "high" or "very high" risk of being converted into market rates, according to the California Housing Partnership Corp. Matt Schwartz, the president of the housing nonprofit, told KPCC that "LA has more at stake than any other county" when it comes to losing affordable housing.
To help save the affordable apartments, Doug Baron, the manager of economic development and affordable housing in the Los Angeles County CEO's office, told KPCC that $30 million of the county budget for 2016-2017 will be spent on affordable housing. It is not yet clear how much of the budget will go to the construction of new housing versus the preservation of units.
