So Many Forms, So Few Homes: How L.A. Made Housing a Waiting Game
Los Angeles suffers from severe housing unaffordability, with one-third of renters spending over half their income on housing and over 47,000 residents experiencing homelessness. New research suggests that lengthy approval processes may be a key factor limiting housing production. Streamlining this bureaucracy could significantly increase housing production without requiring additional taxpayer subsidies or zoning changes.
In “Development Approval Times and New Housing Supply: Evidence from Los Angeles,” Stuart Gabriel (UCLA) and Edward Kung (California State University, Northridge) analyze development timelines for all multifamily housing projects permitted in Los Angeles between 2010 and 2022, providing the first comprehensive analysis of how regulatory delays impact housing production.
Key Takeaways:
- The average housing development takes 3.9 years to complete, with 37% of this time (652 days) spent in the approval process (p. 10)
- Reducing approval times by 25% would increase housing production by 13.5% simply by accelerating existing projects, with potential gains up to 24.6% when accounting for incentive effects (p. 20)
- Mixed-income projects face the longest delays with the average project spending 838 days in the approval process, undermining one of the most scalable pathways to build affordable housing without deep subsidies.
The authors constructed a dataset of 2,677 multifamily projects (120,213 homes) permitted between 2010 and 2022. They linked records from the Departments of Building and Safety, Planning, and Water and Power to trace each project from initial application through final sign-off. This allowed them to pinpoint where delays occurred and how they affected timelines.
Approval Process Delays: Most large housing developments in Los Angeles require discretionary reviews. These reviews involve public hearings, environmental assessments, and approvals from multiple departments that create substantial delays:
- Site Plan Review (required for projects with 50+ units) adds about 97 days
- Environmental Impact Reports add 473 days
- City Planning Commission review adds 189 days
- Projects requiring underground power installations add 65 days for approval and 158 days for construction
Beyond just approval length, the researchers found that homebuilders face huge uncertainty about how long approvals will take. Even with similar projects, some might be approved in 2.6 years while others take 4.8 years or longer. These prolonged approval periods directly delay housing delivery and increase costs as developers must pay property taxes, insurance, and loan interest during this waiting period.
Production Benefits of Faster Approvals: The researchers’ simulations quantify exactly how much additional housing could be produced through streamlined approvals. A 25% reduction in approval times would increase housing production by 13.5% simply by completing existing projects faster. When accounting for the “incentive effect” of making development more attractive, production could increase by 24.6%.
Housing Type Impacts: Mixed-income projects face the longest delays, 45% longer than a 100% affordable project. Since mixed-income projects often represent the most financially viable way to create affordable housing without deep subsidies, these delays directly impact housing opportunities for lower-income residents.
The authors suggest policy solutions that could significantly increase housing production.
- Setting a 60-day limit on plan check reviews for all projects could increase production by 32.8%.
- Eliminating discretionary reviews for projects under 200 units would boost production by 9.2%.
- Streamlining electrical infrastructure installation could increase production by 11%.
These administrative improvements could potentially deliver thousands of additional homes without requiring zoning changes or new public subsidies.