Housing Justice
Stopping the City of LA’s Obstruction and Discrimination to Build Affordable Housing
The Venice Dell Community project is a 100% affordable and permanent supportive housing development that will create more than 140 affordable units dedicated to unhoused individuals, low-income artists, and other lower-income individuals and families. The project will be built on a city-owned site currently used as a surface parking lot in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles. It is part of the City of LA’s plan to develop its land for affordable housing.
The project is being developed by experienced nonprofit affordable housing developers Venice Community Housing and Hollywood Community Housing Corporation and has been in the works since 2016. The project was vetted and considered at 18 public meetings between 2017 and 2022, and the City and the developers entered into a binding Disposition and Development Agreement in June 2022.
However, since January 2023, at the insistence of Councilmember Traci Park and LA City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto, who both oppose the project, the City has been intentionally obstructing the remaining approvals to get the project across the finish line. These delays are undermining the City’s own housing policies and contributing to the City’s homelessness and affordability crisis.
On July 10, 2024, LA Forward Institute, along with taxpayers Sylvia Aroth and Professor Gary Williams, and unhoused individual Kathy Coates, filed a fair housing lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles for obstructing the Venice Dell Community affordable and permanent supportive housing project. The lawsuit demands that the City proceed with all remaining approvals for Venice Dell and cease obstructing and delaying supportive and affordable housing projects. It also alleges these actions discriminate against people of color and individuals with disabilities. The plaintiffs are represented by Public Counsel, Western Center on Law & Poverty, and Strumwasser & Woocher LLP.
Court
Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles
Status
Filed
Case No.
24STCV17156
Filed
07/11/2024
Case Developments
ORDER
07/18/2025
Court Denies City’s Motion to Stay Lawsuit
Judge Broadbelt ruled that the lawsuit over the City’s obstruction of the Venice Dell Community affordable and permanent supportive housing project may proceed, rejecting the City’s attempt to delay the case pending other legal proceedings.
PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO MOTION TO STAY
PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO defendantS’ NOTICE OF RELATED CASE
FILING
03/19/2025
POWER Files Lawsuit Challenging Board of Transportation Commissioners’ Rejection of Venice Dell Site
In a distinct but overlapping legal challenge, People Organized for Westside Renewal (POWER), represented by the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, filed a lawsuit challenging the Los Angeles Board of Transportation Commissioners’ rejection of the Venice Dell Community affordable and permanent supportive housing project. The lawsuit alleges that the Board violated California’s Brown Act by failing to provide proper notice and transparency before taking action. POWER seeks to overturn the Board’s decision and ensure that this previously approved affordable housing development can proceed.
FILING
03/07/2025
Venice Community Housing Corporation Files Lawsuit Challenging Board of Transportation Commissioners’ Rejection of Venice Dell Site
In a distinct but overlapping legal challenge, Venice Community Housing Corporation, represented by the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, filed a lawsuit challenging the Los Angeles Board of Transportation Commissioners’ decision to reject the use of Lot 731 for the Venice Dell Community affordable and permanent supportive housing project. This lawsuit challenges the Board’s legal authority to override decisions previously approved by the Los Angeles City Council, and seeks to overturn the Board’s unauthorized action so that this critical affordable housing project can move forward.
order
02/06/2025
Court Rejects City’s Attempt to Dismiss Lawsuit Under Anti-SLAPP Statute
Judge Broadbelt denied the City of Los Angeles’s Anti-SLAPP motion, allowing the lawsuit to move forward. The Court found that the case—challenging the City’s actions related to the Venice Dell Community affordable and permanent supportive housing project—raises important fair housing issues brought in the public interest.
ORDER DENYING defendantS’ ANTI-SLAPP MOTION
DEFENDANTS’ REPLY TO PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO ANTI-SLAPP motion
Filing
07/10/2024
Plaintiffs File Complaint
LA Forward Institute and three Los Angeles residents filed a fair housing lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles for obstructing the Venice Dell Community affordable and permanent supportive housing project. The lawsuit demands that the City proceed with all remaining approvals for Venice Dell and cease obstructing and delaying supportive and affordable housing projects. It also alleges that these actions discriminate against people of color and individuals with disabilities.
Press Releases
Press Release
07/11/24
LA Forward Institute and Community Members Sue Los Angeles Over Venice Dell Delays
Learn MoreMedia
- Roofless Substack, “Just for the record…”, 1/3/25
- CALÓ News, As 2025 looms on the horizon, one housing project remains in a gray area, 12/23/24
- Urbanize LA, Venice Dell update, What do do with the Hall of Administration, and more, 12/14/24
- LA Times, Venice homeless housing development continues in limbo as councilmember declares the project dead, 12/13/24
- Santa Monica Mirror, Coastal Commission Approves Development Permit for Venice Dell Housing Project, 12/13/24
- Yo! Venice, Coastal Commission Approves Development Permit for Venice Dell Housing Project, 12/12/24
- Westside Current, UPDATE: Coastal Commission Approves Venice Housing Project A Day After Transportation Department Rejects Parking Lot Use, 12/12/24
- Yo! Venice, Ahead of CCC Review, City Department Urges Venice Dell Housing Project Not Go Forward, 12/11/24
- LA Times, Editorial: It’s past time for city officials to let Venice Dell homeless housing move ahead, 12/9/24
- Westside Current, One Last Thing: A Final Word (For Now) on the Venice Dell Project, 12/4/24
- NY Times, As California Clears Homeless Camps, Two Projects Point a Way Forward, 8/17/24
- MyNewsLA, LA City Committee Finalizes Guidelines for Homelessness Prevention Programs, 8/15/24
- LA Times, “L.A. is packed with live music arenas. How will Inglewood’s new Intuit Dome stand out?,” 8/8/24
- The Nation, “Dysfunctional Los Angeles City Politics Threatens Housing Progress,” 8/2/24
- LA Progressive, Los Angeles Resurrects Racial Redlining, 7/28/24
- Caló News, Lawsuit alleges that an affordable housing project in Venice Beach is being unlawfully blocked by city officials, 7/26/24
- Southern California Record, City of L.A. accused of ‘thinly veiled racism’ in lawsuit over Venice low-income housing project, 7/19/24
- Palisades News, Residents Sue City of Los Angeles For Stalling Affordable Housing Development, 7/16/24
- The Real Deal, Advocates accuse LA of stalling homeless housing complex in Venice, 7/16/24
- Daily Journal, Los Angeles city leaders accused of blocking Venice housing project, 7/15/24
- LA Times, L.A. officials continue to stall homeless housing project in Venice, new lawsuit claims, 7/12/24
- KTLA, L.A. officials accused of delaying affordable housing project in Venice, 7/12/24
- AirTalk, Lawsuit alleges intentional stalling of Venice housing development by elected officials, 7/12/24
- MyNewsLA, Venice Residents Sue City Over Alleged Attempts to Stop Housing Project, 7/11/24
- KNX News, L.A. sued over ‘illegal efforts’ to impede housing project in Venice, 7/11/24
- Daily News, LA is sued for slowing a project for homeless and poor on Venice Canal, 7/11/24
- LA Public Press, LA sued for stalling construction of supportive housing in Venice, 7/11/24
- LAist, New lawsuit aims to stop LA leaders from further ‘thwarting’ Venice homeless housing project, 7/11/24
FAQ
- 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 project?
- Venice Dell 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 project be built?
- Venice Dell 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, Venice Dell is fully entitled and the City and the developers executed a binding Disposition and Development Agreement on June 30, 2022. There are a few approvals remaining 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 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 the 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 who 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.
