An 80-unit affordable housing development in Los Angeles' Koreatown is adding income-restricted apartments in one of the city's most crowded neighborhoods.
What happened?
According to The LA Local, the seven-story Atto on Hobart includes 73 one-bedroom apartments and seven studios. The units are set aside for households earning no more than 80% or 120% of the area median income.
Developer Leo Lee, who grew up in Koreatown, said the building's name is meant to capture what he hopes the project will represent for the neighborhood.
"The name of the project is called Atto. The reason for the name is, my wife told me, 'Atto is a Korean word. It means gift, it means thank you,'" he told reporters.
The LA Local reported that the development marks the first completed project in the neighborhood under Mayor Karen Bass' 2022 Executive Directive 1 that streamlines city approvals for 100% affordable housing projects.
Why does it matter?
With more than 39,000 residents packed into each square mile, Koreatown ranks among Los Angeles' densest neighborhoods, the outlet reported. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey data also points to heavy housing strain there, showing that about one in five residents lives below the federal poverty level.
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According to The LA Local, City leaders say Executive Directive 1 is intended to cut through the bureaucracy that has historically delayed affordable housing development. Bass framed the issue in simple terms: "Everybody has told me how difficult it is to build anything in the city, but especially housing, and that the number one reason it was difficult, because of all of the unnecessary red tape."
City officials claim, as the outlet noted, the directive has moved more than 47,000 affordable housing units into the development pipeline across Los Angeles, although many of those projects are still in planning or under construction.
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