Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is betting big on her affordable housing agenda with a housing project that City Hall says is the largest development approved yet under its Rapid Build Initiative.
The proposed Viva LA project at the Warner Center in Woodland Hills would add approximately 3,200 affordable assisted living units for seniors, making it the largest project to clear the streamlined BASS approval process.
At approximately 2 million square feet, the development will transform part of Warner Center to a high-density residential campus for seniors, a concept city leaders say is necessary at a time when Los Angeles faces a shortage of affordable housing and a rapidly aging population.
Bass joined Councilman Bob Blumenfeld, who represents the area, and the developers on Tuesday to celebrate the milestone, touting the project as proof that her efforts to cut bureaucracy are getting results.
“From day one, I have focused on reducing red tape and creating faster, more predictable approvals so we can begin to solve our affordability crisis,” Bass said. “Viva LA at Warner Center will provide approximately 3,200 units of affordable housing for seniors, the largest Executive Directive 1 project to date.”
The mayor’s office says nearly 47,000 affordable housing units are now in the pipeline Executive direction 1which allows eligible 100% affordable housing projects to move through the city’s approval process more quickly.
Blumenfeld attributed the project to a combination of Bass’s executive order and… Warner Center 2035 specific planWho helped care for him for more than a decade.
“Viva LA at Warner Center will become a transformative investment in the West San Fernando Valley,” Blumenfeld said. “This project expands affordable housing options for our aging population while making tangible progress in addressing our housing crisis.”
Developers say the project is designed to challenge the traditional model of assisted living.
The affordable assisted living system has long been built on sprawling suburban campuses rather than dense urban neighborhoods where seniors have access to transportation, shopping and health care, said George Kutneryan, co-founder and CEO of Wellpointe Inc..
“Viva rejects this hypothesis,” Kutnerian said. “Affordable housing, coupled with assisted living services as needed, can be provided at the volume and density that California’s seniors truly need.”
But not everyone welcomed this announcement.
The proposal quickly sparked controversy online, with some Reddit users in Los Angeles expressing concerns about the size of the project and its impact on the surrounding community.
“They call it ‘Viva.'” One commenter wrote: “I call it ‘The Graveyard,'” one commenter wrote, while another responded, “3,500 units. That’s a lot of people.”
Others questioned why another affordable housing project would target seniors rather than young working people struggling to afford high rents in Los Angeles.
“Affordable housing? When will I get that? I’m drowning here,” another user posted.
However, many others defended the project, noting that seniors are one of the fastest-growing homeless groups in Los Angeles, often living on fixed incomes that make market-rate housing impossible.
Proponents also argued that creating thousands of senior housing units could free up single-family homes and apartments currently occupied by seniors, increasing the supply of housing for younger families.
“If seniors move out of single-family homes to move into this development, a few thousand homes will likely come on the market,” one commenter wrote. “In a housing supply crisis, all new housing is good housing.”
The Viva LA project will still need to complete additional planning and construction before welcoming residents.