The South Bay Cities Council of Governments says it has wrapped up a study aimed at helping local cities turn underused strip malls, shopping centers and office parks into housing, as the region tries to meet state-mandated housing targets in a part of Los Angeles County that has little open land left to build on.
The regional agency announced the completed study in a post on Wednesday, framing it as a tool for cities trying to hit state-established housing goals in what it called a largely built-out subregion. According to the South Bay Cities Council of Governments
, the goal was to help member cities identify and reimagine underutilized commercial properties that could realistically support new housing. SBCCOG is a joint powers agency of 15 cities and Los Angeles County.
From Strip Malls to Shopping Centers, a Wide Net
The research examined underperforming, over-parked or otherwise underutilized commercial corridors and shopping centers scattered across the South Bay. When SBCCOG first described the project in 2023, the agency said it was casting a wide net across different kinds of commercial real estate. The study considered strip arterials, regional malls, office buildings and industrial parks, according to an earlier South Bay Cities Council of Governments announcement, which noted that many of the region's commercial clusters and corridors have become vacant or underutilized.
That earlier announcement said participating cities included Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, El Segundo, Carson and Hawthorne, while separate reporting on the completed study identifies Carson, Hawthorne and Torrance as participants in what is described as the South Bay Cities RESTOCK: Sustainable Pathways to Housing study. The study identified redevelopment priority areas for participating cities. Researchers evaluated land-use configurations, site sizes and community characteristics, an approach SBCCOG described in 2023 as looking at many different configurations, sizes and community characteristics across the subregion.
Market Strength, Not Just Zoning, Decides What Gets Built
One of the study's central findings is blunt: redevelopment follows where the market is already strong, and simply upzoning a property does not guarantee anyone will actually build on it. Housing projects, the study found, need rents or sales prices high enough to cover both land and construction costs before a developer will move forward. The study examined commercial property types and the importance of preserving profitable retail.
The study also considered amenity-rich areas and the Local Travel Network.
Paid for Through a State Planning Program
The project was financed with California Regional Early Action Planning funding that SBCCOG received through the Southern California Association of Governments, according to the agency's earlier announcement. The funding was designed to spur affordable housing production. The study work was underway with consulting partners Studio One Eleven, Dudek and Kosmont Companies.
A Region Already Short on Affordable Units
The study lands against a backdrop of South Bay cities struggling to produce housing affordable to anyone below the top income tier. A March report on an SBCCOG presentation found that from 2022 to 2023, more than 4,000 homes requiring above-moderate income were built in the region while fewer than 500 homes affordable to moderate-income households or below were completed, according to the Daily Breeze.
Torrance has moved to join the South Bay Regional Housing Trust, a joint powers agreement the city council approved earlier this year that is intended to help fund affordable housing development across the region.
Why Building Affordable Units Is So Costly in the First Place
A UC Riverside analysis found that Los Angeles County's median rent-to-income ratio sits at 39%, above the 30% level recommended by HUD and the only county above that threshold among those studied, while building a condominium in Los Angeles costs roughly $100,000 more per unit than in other nearby Southern California cities, according to UC Riverside News.
