USC graduate Shant Samuelian’s affordable housing firm, The Samuelian Group, is currently working on two development projects, both within a half mile of public transit.
A State Senate bill signed into law last month allows for more housing development near mass transit in an effort to address the state’s housing shortage.
Samuelian believes this bill could help implement affordable housing.
“I think it’s going to be really beneficial for housing in general,” Samuelian said. “More specifically, if you couple it with some other stuff at the state level, you might be able to get some really good density bonus for affordable housing projects that are within transit, major transit stops.”
Earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 130 and Senate Bill 131 into law, each aimed to facilitate housing development.
In Los Angeles, the median rent price is $2,805 as of October 31, according to Zillow.com. According to the Los Angeles Times, the median price of rent in L.A. has increased from approximately $1,900 to $2,100 in the past five years.
Samuelian believes it is critical to have affordable housing because “if you’re making $80,000 a year or $3,000-4,000 a month, it’s not sustainable for your income.”
According to a statement from the governor’s office, the new law is intended to provide affordable homes to farmworkers, convert empty buildings into housing and create residential accommodations near public transit.
The City of Los Angeles was opposed to SB 79, arguing that it takes away their local control, zoning power to manage their own cities and overrides local land use restrictions. In August, the Los Angeles city council voted against the SB 79 bill in the ceremonial vote.
Liza Kvitkovska, a sophomore at USC Marshall, believes affordable housing also means preserving older units.
“A lot of them focus on making this big thing, and this image, like, ‘Oh, we’re building these new houses,’” Kvitkovska said. “It looks more glamorous compared to preserving older units. All of that would take less money.”
Sammy Simone, another sophomore Marshall student, feels optimistic about this new bill.
“I think the coolest thing about this bill is that if you live in California, the state is finally making it easier and more financially viable to deliver affordable homes we need, by tying density bonuses and faster approvals to high-quality transit zones,” Simone said.
The Samuelian Group is primarily focusing on the City of Los Angeles, but Samuelian said he’d like to expand and develop affordable housing projects throughout the state.
“We want to provide quality affordable housing for people that need it,” Samuelian said. “It’s a big need right now, and I kind of only see it getting bigger and the demand for affordable housing getting larger as time goes. So we need to do our part by trying to develop as many units as we can to strike the balance of supply and demand, so rents come down.”