Venice Dell lawsuit FAQs
What is the Venice Dell Community project?
Venice Dell is a 100% affordable and permanent supportive housing project that will create more than 140 affordable units dedicated to unhoused individuals, low-income artists, and other lower-income individuals and families. It has been in the works since 2016.
What is the purpose of the Venice Dell project?
The Venice Dell community is being built in response to the Los Angeles housing crisis. More than 50% of Angelenos who rent are rent-burdened, and the median home price has reached nearly $1 million.
Where will the Venice Dell project be built?
The project will replace a city-owned parking lot at 200 North Venice Boulevard. A new public parking garage will be constructed to make up for the lost parking spaces.
Has the project been fully approved?
Yes, the project is fully entitled and the City and the developers executed a binding Disposition and Development Agreement on June 30, 2022. There are a few remaining approvals that the City has been intentionally obstructing since January 2023.
Why is there a lawsuit?
While Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council have publicly supported and adopted policies to expedite housing solutions citywide to address the City’s devastating housing and homelessness crisis, as demanded by LA voters, some of the same elected officials are now covertly thwarting those efforts. Since taking office in 2023, Councilmember Traci Park and City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto — acting on animus against the project and the chronically homeless, disabled, and Black and Brown Angelenos it would house — have pursued a number of backdoor strategies to thwart and obstruct Venice Dell. These efforts not only undermine the City’s own stated policies, but they violate state law, including the state Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), state statutes prohibiting discrimination against affordable housing, the Los Angeles City Charter, the Los Angeles City Administrative Code, and the Equal Protection Guarantee in the California Constitution.
What is the city doing to delay the project?
The City is unlawfully obstructing Venice Dell in violation of state law. This includes city officials intentionally withholding approvals and agreements that are necessary before the project can break ground, and interfering with Coastal Commission review. These actions are denying housing opportunities to low-income individuals and people experiencing homelessness, who are disproportionately Black, Brown, and have disabilities.
What happened with the lawsuits against this project?
They were recently rejected. There have been two main legal challenges to the Project, both brought by the same NIMBY group in 2022: (1) a lawsuit challenging the Project’s CEQA exemptions, and (2) a lawsuit challenging the City’s approval of the development agreement.
Both lawsuits failed. On May 21, 2024, Judge Fruin denied the CEQA writ petition, upholding the Project’s land use approvals. On June 4, 2024, Judge Chalfant denied a challenge to the development agreement.
Who is responsible for building the project?
Venice Community Housing and Hollywood Community Housing are the developers of the project. The City selected them through a competitive bidding process, pursuant to the City’s desires to redevelop the city-owned parking lot.
When did the project start?
The City put out a request for proposal in 2016 and signed a development agreement with the developers in June 2022. The remaining project approvals have been delayed for two years now, delaying the construction of sorely needed affordable housing on the Westside.
What is the goal of the lawsuit?
The goal of the suit is to get the City to take the last few remaining steps to allow the project to break ground and open its doors to unhoused and low-income households that have been waiting for this housing.
Who filed the lawsuit?
LA Forward Institute along with three individuals who represent different sectors of the Venice community filed this lawsuit.
