Councilman Bonin Introduces Recommendations Aimed At Tackling City's Affordable Housing Crisis

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — A Los Angeles city councilman introduced a series of recommendations Wednesday aimed at tackling the city's affordable housing crisis.

Councilman Mike Bonin introduced three motions, collectively billed as the "Homes Guarantee LA" plan, that would have the city look into how a "social housing" model used in some European countries could be introduced in L.A., with housing owned and operated by the city.

"The markets alone and our system alone right now is not providing sufficient affordable housing for the people in Los Angeles. The demand is significantly greater than the supply," Bonin said. "What social housing does is it would use public land or vacant land to provide a public option for affordable housing. It would have amenities near and within it, and would provide long-term tenancies and be green and sustainable."

RELATED: City Crews Attempt Another Echo Park Lake Cleanup Following Protests From Homeless Campers

The second motion would require limited liability companies to disclose their investors in real estate in hopes of cutting back on companies that purchase properties and keep them vacant in hopes that the value will increase over time.

"If it is not the inevitable result, it is certainly the predictable result of a system that has laws and markets that increasingly are regarding housing as something to invest in rather than something to live in," Bonin said.

The final motion was aimed at eliminating the city's 3% floor increase on rent-stabilized units, limiting rent increases in such units to no more than 60% of the consumer price index.

According to Bonin, L.A. residents in rent-controlled units have repeatedly seen rent increases in excess of the actual CPI — which has averaged 1.4% since 2009.