Neil Shekhter – of NMS – It’s time for cities to start building their fair share of housing

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 28, 2018 / According to a recent report from the state Department of Housing and Community Development, a large majority of California’s urban areas, such as Los Angeles, aren’t giving approval for the construction of sufficient housing.

As a result of this situation, state housing authorities are now requiring that cities ease the process for developers to get approval for new construction projects that include affordable housing units.

During the last forty years, California’s municipalities had the responsibility of setting housing goals every five to eight years as a way of making sure that enough new homes are built to meet the demands of a growing population. Unfortunately, according to the state’s recent report, very few cities are meeting the goals they’ve set.

So far, it has been determined that only 13 cities have made a sufficient amount of progress toward meeting their housing construction targets for 2017. 526 other cities haven’t and will now be required to fast track the approval of some new housing development projects.

Per Neil Shekhter, under a new law which took effect at the beginning of 2018, cities must speed up the review of developments made up of at least ten percent affordable housing units if they’ve failed to meet their objectives for market rate housing. Municipalities that met their targets for market rate housing but haven’t met the requirements for new affordable housing units will nee to streamline the review of projects in which at least half the housing units are affordable to low-income residents.

While Los Angeles is expected to meet its overall new housing construction objective by issuing permits for nearly 82,000 new homes by 2021, the city hasn’t met its goals when it comes to the construction of enough affordable housing units. Out of 45,820 new units the city has issued permits for since 2014, less than ten percent are classified as affordable to low-income residents.

As the city is very much behind schedule with regards to new affordable housing, planners must now streamline the approval of projects which include 50 percent or more affordable housing units. Some other cities in California, including Burbank, Long Beach and Santa Monica, will need to fast track development projects with ten percent or more affordable units.

The lack of affordable housing in the city of Los Angeles has been an ongoing problem for several years. A recent report by the California Housing Partnership Corporation estimates that the city now requires the construction of over 500,000 new affordable housing units in order to meet the current level of demand.

Launching NMS Properties in 1988, Neil Shekhter assumed the role of CEO in January 1995. The real estate management company focuses on multi-family and mixed-use properties in the Greater Los Angeles area and in Santa Monica. At present, NMS properties manages more than 70 properties.

Over the course of 2017, NMS deployed 40 furnished units in Los Angeles, and Neil Shekhter plans to triple that number in 2018. The company currently manages some of the its properties while testing a pilot with MY SUITE.

Neil Shekhter – Founder and CEO of NMS Properties
Apartments For Rent In Los Angeles NMS Residential: http://www.nmsresidential.com
NMS Properties – Real Estate Management Firm: http://www.nmsproperties.com

Contact Information: info@NeilShekhter.com

SOURCE: NMS Properties, Inc.

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