Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass's Executive Directive 1 aims to tackle the city's homeless crisis by expediting the development of affordable housing. As of November 6, the directive has advanced the development of over 8,000 housing units, reported by the Mayor's office official website. A recent achievement is the opening, in October, of the Wilcox in Hollywood, a 62-unit affordable housing project catering to elderly homeless residents.

"Our efforts accelerated the completion of this project, which means elders in need can move in sooner rather than later. We're saving lives with this streamlined construction process. Given the severity of the homelessness crisis, we must continue treating it as an emergency," remarked Mayor Karen Bass.

The effectiveness of Executive Directive 1 that was signed on December 16, 2022, is evident in its success to expedite and reduce the costs of affordable housing projects in Los Angeles. The initiative has led to significant growth in the number of project applications and unit allotments. The directive ensured completion of 50 project cases and approval of 4,155 affordable housing units, which are documented by the Mayor's office.

With this directive, project processing—for complete applications—has been quickly reduced to an average of 43 days, a stark difference from 6-9 months previously. A draft proposal to make Executive Directive 1 permanent was released by the Department of City Planning following a City Council action in September. This draft is slated for a Planning Commission review later this month.