ACTION ALERT - Join us today as we want to stop the Linkage Fee in the City of Los Angeles.Â
Hearing is at Ronald F. Deaton Civic Auditorium (LAPD HQ) and will start at 2:30pm
Thank you to BizFed member Tim Piasky at the BIA for leading this effort
Last year, BizFed voted to oppose attempts by the City of LA to include a linkage fee to the cost of new development. Â In June, the LA City Council wanted to push this through but had to delay the vote as it was stopped through a vocal and organized effort from leaders like yourself who said "No!" Â
This afternoon, the City of LA will try again to consider a linkage fee of $12 per square foot on new homes and $5 per square foot on commercial development. Â This fee will increase the already sky-high cost of doing business, drive up rents, and worsen our housing shortage. Â These are three of the top 5 concerns about what is stifling our economy according to business owners and leaders like yourself who took our annual BizFed poll. Â
WE ARE ASKING YOU TO HELP IN ONE OR MORE WAYS:
1. If you have a relationship with one of the following Councilmembers—Herb Wesson, Jose Huizar, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Bob Blumenfield, Curren Price—please give them a call:
Let him know that any cost increase to housing means higher rents and home prices for Angelenos worsening our housing shortage and squeeze out the hard-working middle class.
Go to the We Need Housing Coalition website. It takes only 30 seconds to send an automatically-generated email off to the Councilmember who represents you.Â
3. Send you and your team out to the hearing on Tuesday.
Strength in numbers is critical TODAY. Â At the last hearing, there were over 200 fee supporters. We must match and beat their numbers, but can only do it with your help. Please ask as many staff, friends or family as possible to attend the hearing. It is critical that we have bodies in the room.
CLICK HEREÂ to download Coalition sign-on letterÂ
MEETING DETAILS
WHAT: Planning & Land Use Management Committee Hearing - Linkage Fees
WHEN: TODAY, August 22nd at 2:30 PM, Plan to arrive up to 90 minutes early to get a seat and fill out a comment card.
WHERE:Â Ronald F. Deaton Civic Auditorium, 100 W First St. Â Parking is available or you can ride the Metro Red and Purple Line to Civic Center and walk 3 blocks or Metro Gold Line to Little Tokyo station and walk 4 blocks.
RSVP: Â CLICK HERE
BACKGROUND
- According to a recent report from California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) LA County needed to build over 1 million more homes over the last three decades just to keep housing prices in line with the rest of the country. Â
- The linkage fee may yield at best 613 units annually, leading to increased rents and home prices for the remaining 99.9% of lower-income households as housing costs increase to cover the fee.
- Los Angeles has some of the highest housing costs in the nation and we simply can’t afford to make housing even more expensive for working families, seniors and those already struggling to make ends meet.
- According to a recent HUD study, LA has 1 million very poor households with 567,000 of them spending more than half their income on rent.
- Only 28% of households are now able to afford a median-priced home in Los Angeles County, and this number will continue to shrink if we don’t alleviate our housing shortage.
 If you have any questions, please contact Jerard Wright at jerard.wright@BizFed.org. |
