On June 14, 2022, the Board directed the Chief Executive Office (CEO) to establish a land bank model to launch a land bank pilot program and allocated ARPA funding, and the CEO will continue to plan with and update the Board Offices on its progress. The CEO will implement the Land Bank Pilot project to ensure that the homeless and our most vulnerable residents can access 300-700 affordable housing units. The project will prevent real estate speculation and create new opportunities for affordable housing in areas experiencing and set to experience rapid gentrification and displacement near the Los Angeles River. Studies have shown that people who are homeless are among one of the most vulnerable groups of people impacted by COVID-19 because they are more likely to be older male smokers, with many underlying medical conditions, and under pre-COVID-19 conditions were 10 times more likely to die than the general population. People who are homeless generally cannot maintain social distancing in shelters or other public spaces and there is insufficient access to handwashing or hygiene increasing the vulnerability of virus transmission and health complications.
The project funds will be used to acquire 5-15 properties for households most impacted by the pandemic and the homeless. The completion of this project will lead to new affordable housing units, provide safe and secure housing options, and mitigate the spread of the virus. The homeless populations to be housed include the most vulnerable to COVID.
The acquisition process will involve working with realtor(s) already identified through County contracts or internal subject matter experts from high priority areas, existing County employees, or if there is need to select a realtor, the realtor must be from/work with or serve high priority areas. Then, the land bank would work with the Board offices to identify properties available on the market or tax defaulted that would be viable for affordable housing. The land bank would create awareness and buy in from community and local jurisdictions. The land bank would conduct due diligence on properties to determine if property viable to purchase, and then negotiate the sale to acquire property. Finally, the land bank entity will work with counsel to ensure affordability covenants on the properties (for households ranging from 0-50% Area Median Income).