Los Angeles Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky introduced a two-part plan this week aimed at making condominiums, townhomes and other small for-sale homes easier and less expensive to build across the city. The councilwoman, who represents the city's fifth council district, framed the effort around a blunt diagnosis: the first rung of homeownership has disappeared for many Angelenos, and starter homes should give first-time buyers a real shot at owning property and building wealth.
According to mynewsla.com, Yaroslavsky's office points to a stark local backdrop: just 36% of homes in Los Angeles are owner-occupied, and the median home price in the city now exceeds $1 million. In Los Angeles County, homeowners don't even begin to outnumber renters until age 59, according to the councilwoman's office. Those numbers echo a broader regional pattern; a May 2026 Apartment List analysis found that adults ages 25 to 34 in the LA-Orange County metro hold an ownership rate of just 11%, one of the lowest such rates in the country, as Hoodline previously reported.
A Streamlined Path for New Condos
The first motion directs the Department of City Planning to develop a streamlined approval process for new condominium projects, with help from the Department of Building and Safety and the Bureau of Engineering. Under current rules, housing that would otherwise be approved by-right can get pulled into a lengthy discretionary subdivision process the moment units are proposed for individual ownership rather than as rentals. Yaroslavsky's motion calls for the planning department to draft an ordinance creating simplified, expedited procedures for eligible new-construction condo projects within 30 days.
That fee and process gap isn't unique to Los Angeles. A Terner Center for Housing Innovation study at UC Berkeley asks why California does not build more multifamily condominiums, according to the Terner Center for Housing Innovation. That statewide shortfall in condo production forms the backdrop against which Yaroslavsky's local motions are pitched.
Why Condos Cost More Than Apartments to Build
The second motion, which the councilwoman plans to introduce separately, takes aim at the fees themselves. It seeks to address a pattern in which the city often charges more to build homes intended for individual ownership than to build identical units as rental apartments, according to the same mynewsla.com report. A multifamily project can face tens of thousands of dollars in additional city fees once its units are subdivided and sold as condos rather than rented out.
Those extra costs include park fees, the affordable housing linkage fee, subdivision and mapping fees, and other development charges. The gap is quantifiable: Los Angeles charges $7,500 per subdivision unit for residential subdivision projects like condos, compared with $2,500 per unit for nonsubdivision rental apartments, per an entitlement-cost analysis from JDJ Consulting. The city's Affordable Housing Linkage Fee varies by location and may be waived for affordable housing.
Yaroslavsky's companion motion directs the city administrative officer and relevant departments to identify those fee differences and evaluate options including reductions, credits, deferrals and more proportional fee structures. The report notes this is squarely aimed at closing the cost gap between building for sale and building to rent.
Part of a Broader Push, Locally and in Sacramento
The motions build on groundwork Yaroslavsky has been laying for months. In May 2026, the Los Angeles City Council passed resolutions she led with Councilmember Adrin Nazarian supporting state housing reform bills AB 1903, AB 1406 and AB 1070, which aim to reduce construction defect liability risks and update financing rules for condo developments, according to Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky's official site. The following month, she co-authored a motion directing the city attorney to draft a ballot measure exempting newly built multifamily developments sold within 10 years from Measure ULA, the city's so-called mansion tax, as reported by LAist.
A March 24, 2026 directive called for phased implementation and Corridor Transition expansion related to Senate Bill 79. Yaroslavsky has tied the starter-home push to that broader Missing Middle LA strategy, which also includes accessory dwelling units and small-lot subdivisions aimed at expanding smaller-scale housing options.
Other California cities offer early glimpses of what alternative ownership models can look like. Assembly Bill 1033, in effect since January 2024, lets cities allow ADUs to be sold separately as condominiums; a first-of-its-kind California ADU condominium sale was recorded at $530,000, while Los Angeles has opened its own review of the option, as Hoodline has reported. In Campbell, the state's SB 684 starter-home law enabled its first construction project in March 2026, with six for-sale townhomes breaking ground near a $1.15 million list price.
The Political Backdrop
The starter-home plan lands in a district where housing policy has already been a flashpoint. Yaroslavsky's Council District 5 seat was to be decided in a June 2 primary in a spring contest focused on Westside housing density, zoning and development, as Hoodline previously covered. In her own words, condos, townhomes and other starter homes should give first-time buyers a genuine opportunity to own in Los Angeles and build wealth, and she has said homeownership should remain part of the housing conversation even as state and local rules open the door to more housing overall. Condos, she has argued, should not be substantially harder or more expensive to build than identical apartments.
Whether that argument translates into fast action remains to be seen. How quickly the Department of City Planning can deliver the 30-day streamlined ordinance, and whether the proposed fee reductions can clear the City Council without cutting into funding for city parks and affordable housing reserves, are questions that will determine whether this latest push actually moves the needle on Los Angeles's ownership housing shortage.
