City Limits Mansions, Hotel Conversions

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The Los Angeles City Council today approved new rules to address major byproducts of the gentrification that has swept the city: Limiting the size of “mansionization” additions and making it harder for developers to convert low-income housing on skid row into luxury lofts, the L.A. Times reports.


The new rules radically limit the size of remodeled homes in the city’s flatlands to 3,000 square feet in most cases, curtailing what homeowners say is a plague of behemoth, ugly stucco boxes that are killing neighborhood character.


On the other end of the spectrum, council members voted to preserve more than 18,700 units in residential hotels, mostly located downtown, that advocates worry are in danger of being turned into luxury lofts or condos.


Both measures were controversial and required heavy negotiation among activists, property owners and members of the business community. But in both cases, the final unanimous votes heralded an acknowledgment by council members of the incredible pressures that gentrification has exerted on virtually every corner of the city.


“When certain neighborhoods have homes on steroids and others no longer have a place for the poor to sleep, the social fabric is torn,” said City Council President Eric Garcetti, citing the need for the ordinances.


The city has been criticized for years for not doing more to preserve the look and character of existing neighborhoods against “tear-downs,” in which property owners demolish original homes and replacement with dwelling often two or three times larger.


Read the full L.A. Times story

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