Janet (as President of BAE) completed the City of Los Angeles Affordable Housing Linkage Fee Nexus Study.  This landmark workwas prepared as three key components:  a detailed nexus study for both commercial and residential linkage fees resulting in calculations of maximum legal fee levels by land use, a real estate market analysis based on CoStar, CoreLogic, and REIS data to categorize 144 neighborhoods into low, medium, or high market condition, and a financial feasibility analysis of 7 commercial prototypes and 4 residential prototypes across the market condition categories to test maximum feasible fee.  Background work also included in the study included over 20 case studies of cities in California and elsewhere with linkage fee programs.   

 

The study process also included three workshops which engaged with more than 50 developers, housing advocates, and academics to review findings and suggest draft ordinance features.  

 

After City Council hearings commenced, the City commissioned BAE/Janet Smith-Heimer to provide several supplemental analyses to update revenue forecasts and provide additional nexus analysis for single family homes. 

 

The Los Angeles Linkage Fee ordinance was adopted in December, 2017.  This program will create the City's first major permanent housing funding source, and is expected to generate over $100M annually.  

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Report available for download here.