This is a short summary regarding Housing Element and Environmental Review process, schedule, Housing Element web-site information, information on how to submit comments. Special thank you to Kim Christensen, AICP for sharing this information.
Kimberly Christensen, AICP Kimberly Christensen Consulting (310) 849-1261 mail.kimchristensen@gmail.com

CITY OF LOS ANGELES
HOUSING ELEMENT 2021-2029 UPDATE AND SAFETY ELEMENT UPDATE
Westside Neighborhood Council stakeholders:
Overview:
A separate report is being provided that goes into detail about what the Housing Element addresses and about the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) which is a critical component of the Housing Element. Briefly, the RHNA evaluates housing need including several factors: existing housing capacity, projected future housing need during the 2021-2029 planning period of the housing element, affordability, overcrowding, cost burden/overpayment, homelessness, and vacancy rate.
The preliminary estimated requirement for the City of Los Angeles for the entire City is 419,261 to 429,261 net new housing units. The final number should be released in the next few weeks. The Updated Housing Element must be adopted by the City Council by October 2021 to comply with State law. Once it is adopted and the State certifies the Housing Element as compliant with State Law. The City has 3 years to complete any zoning changes throughout the City to implement the policies and housing densities adopted in the Housing Element.
To obtain current information regarding the City of Los Angeles Housing Element 2021-2029 Update please refer to the following City of Los Angeles web-site link:
hhttps://planning.lacity.org/plans-policies/housing-element-updatettps://planning.lacity.org/plans-policies/housing-element-update
The web-site has a link to draft concepts for the Housing Element and a survey that you can complete. The web-site has a video webinar of the Environmental Review Process Scoping Meeting that was held recently in January about the Housing Element Update and environmental review process. It also includes questions and answers from participants. If you only watch the staff presentation it is about 15 minutes long. The deadline to comment regarding the Notice of Preparation of the EIR is February 15, 2021 at 5 pm (this may be revised to February 16, 2021). See discussion below regarding what type of comments are relevant to the Notice of Preparation of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR).
Comments can be submitted by email or mail but they must still arrive by the same date and they need to be to the attention of Cally Hardy, City Planning Associate with the Planning File Case Nos below:
Email address: HousingElement@lacity.org
Comments can also be submitted by mail at
City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning

HousingElement@lacity.org
Attn: Cally Hardy, City Planning Associate
Case Nos. CPC-2020-1365-GPA and ENV-2020-6762-EIR
200 North Spring Street, Room 750
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Questions call: (210) 978-1643
The purpose of the Scoping Meeting is to disclose to the public what environmental issue areas will be studied in the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and to take comments from the public regarding these environmental issue areas and what should be studied and considered. The City’s environmental consultant has prepared a document called an Initial Study to evaluate preliminarily the 21 issue areas mandated by State law and to screen out any issue areas that are not expected to have either no environmental impact or an environmental impact that is less than significant based upon the requirements of State law. The issue areas that have been screened out from review are: Agriculture, Energy, Mineral Resources and certain aspects of Wildfire. All other environmental issue areas that are required to be studied pursuant to the EIR discussed at length in the Initial Study. To understand the specific questions that were addressed you can read the Initial Study which is available on the web-site.
The Update and the EIR also will include some updates to the Safety Element of the General Plan as well that are mandated by State Law. Topics such as floodplain management, local hazard mitigation planning, resiliency and sustainability will be addressed.
Housing Element and Housing Element EIR Schedule
Currently, the City is in the environmental review phase while the draft of the Housing Element 2021-2029 Update is being prepared. The web-site has a link to draft concepts that are available to the public. The draft Housing Element will be released in Spring 2021.
Notice of Preparation of EIR January 13, 2021 – February 15, 2021
Preparation of EIR Early Spring 2021
Public Comment Period Late Spring 2021
Preparation of Final EIR Late Summer 2021
City Planning Commission hearing Late Summer 2021 (tentatively September)
City Council hearing Early Fall 2021 (October 2021)
Housing Element must be adopted by October 2021 to comply with State law.