Study finds hotels and offices can create 72,000 new homes in Los Angeles County – Pasadena Star News

A new study finds that Los Angeles County could add 72,000 to 113,000 units to the housing supply by converting hotels, offices and other underutilized commercial buildings into apartments.

That would represent between 9% and 14% of the state-imposed housing target in late 2029.

But this “adaptive reuse” would work best for hotel conversions, and most of these new units would have to be studio apartments to make financial sense, according to a study by RAND Corp on Wednesday, April 6.

In all, the county has about 2,300 hotels, office buildings and retail centers available for such transfers, the study found.

“Retrofitting commercial buildings to help address the housing shortage in Los Angeles County is a compelling idea, but the economics and logistics of such projects are complex,” RAND economist Jason Ward said in a statement. “Significant incentives may be required to transform these properties…to realize the full potential of adaptive reuse.”

State and local governments have looked at hotel and office conversions in recent years as a way to address California’s housing shortage.

During the pandemic, California launched Project Homekey and its predecessor, Project Roomkey, to get the homeless off the streets. In early 2021, two Los Angeles County supervisors called for a study to develop a list of potential home conversion sites.

Read more: Project Roomkey expands to house ‘useless’ Angelenos, LA County officials say

The report said the City of Los Angeles has taken action as far back as 1999, adopting an ordinance to simplify the redevelopment of dozens of vacant downtown buildings. As a result, about 12,000 of the 37,000 new housing units were created downtown through construction conversions.

“Housing production in Los Angeles (downtown) has been one of the few success stories in Los Angeles’ quest to increase the housing stock over the past three decades,” the Santa Monica-based research nonprofit said.

House conversions can also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower development costs by reducing the labor and materials used in home development. The state housing program requires Los Angeles to boost home construction to an average of 57,000 units per year this decade versus an average of 8,800 in the past decade.

So, it begs the question, why not do more of it?

The study said the answer was a “complex issue”.

The practicality of using office or retail real estate depends on the property prices of the area and whether the homes produced are studios versus one to two bedroom units. Studios – small one-room apartments and bathrooms – are more cost-effective than large apartments.

Other factors affecting feasibility include building size, building type, floor layout and condition.

The study found that hotels are more cost-effective than offices for transfers to homes – again, primarily for studio apartments.

However, office buildings are more abundant than hotels located in the most sought after areas. But conversion can be cheaper than new construction.

The study said there are social benefits that make remittances worthwhile. “Non-tax factors” include access to jobs and public transportation, increased housing affordability, and reduced housing segregation.

The study urged local governments to provide subsidies to encourage this redevelopment. The study said they need to adopt new laws to increase incentives by increasing the allowable density, adopting alternative building codes, and simplifying the approval process for building permits.

“Policy makers and other stakeholders involved in the housing policy debate are becoming increasingly interested in a more holistic view of the criteria that should guide such policy,” the study said. “Residential (conversions) may play an important role in meeting the urgent need for new, affordable housing in the area.”

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