Los Angeles County has been grappling with a housing shortage for years, a crisis that has manifested in crippling rent burdens, widespread displacement, and a shameful number of residents forced to endure substandard living conditions. This pre-existing vulnerability has now been brutally exposed and exacerbated by recent devastating fires, pushing our housing market into a deeper, more perilous level of unaffordability. What was a simmering crisis has now become an acute shortage, demanding immediate and decisive action.
With vacancy rates already critically low, the influx of displaced residents desperately seeking new housing has created a surge in demand that will distort the market further. This perfect storm of destruction and demand is driving up rents and making even basic shelter an unattainable luxury for many. Landlords and listing agents have responded to this shortage by increasing rental prices as much as 86% overnight. While increases of that type will be limited in some cases by state gouging laws, forecasters estimate rents could increase as much as 12%.
The housing shortage demanded urgent attention in 2024. The post-fire reality of 2025 makes action no longer a matter of choice, but one of survival. Residents can no longer afford bureaucratic delays and piecemeal solutions. The time for incremental change is over; a radical shift in our approach to housing production is needed.
The question now is not whether we should build more housing, but how quickly and efficiently we can do so. Cities across Los Angeles County must implement bold strategies to expedite and dramatically increase housing construction. They should focus on two key areas: faster production and reduced costs.
To accelerate production, cities should implement shot clocks on entitlement review, approval and building permitting processes. Lengthy bureaucratic delays have become a major obstacle to development, and we must streamline these processes to ensure projects move forward without unnecessary holdups. Furthermore, offering third-party permitting and inspection services would allow builders to bypass the bottlenecks in local government agencies, significantly shortening construction timelines and allowing them to attain certificates of occupancy more quickly.
Equally important is reducing the costs associated with building. Impact fees add substantial costs to development. In Santa Monica for example, Parks and Recreation and Transportation fees account for at least $9,100 per unit, and total fees can be as much as $15,000 per unit. Reducing or waiving these fees entirely would make more projects feasible, especially those that do not expect to generate top of market rents.
Still, the largest cost imposed on housing remains affordability requirements and transfer taxes in most LA County jurisdictions. While well-intentioned, inclusionary zoning requirements act as a tax discouraging development of housing, as do the imposition of transfer taxes like Los Angeles’s Measure ULA and Santa Monica’s Measure GS. As ballot measures, those transfer taxes are not easily adjusted, however municipalities can largely change their affordability requirements if they have the political will. Re-evaluating these requirements in the current crisis is crucial to encourage more housing production.
In Santa Monica, the urgency will be particularly acute as our neighbors from the Pacific Palisades seek housing nearby. While the city has approximately 4,000 units entitled and another 2,700 in the pipeline, these projects must break ground as soon as possible. Every day of delay exacerbates the crisis. We must cut through the red tape and taxes to ensure these units are built as quickly as possible.
Local governments must understand the gravity of the situation. This is not simply a short-term shock to the housing market; if we fail to act decisively, it will spiral into a continuous, devastating crisis. We must prioritize building more housing, and we must do so now. The fires have ignited a housing inferno, and only swift, decisive action can prevent it from smoldering for years.
