California’s spiraling housing crisis laid bare by LA homeowner’s insane 4-year battle

California has been trying to combat its severe housing crisis by encouraging more construction — but one Los Angeles homeowner’s experience proves how difficult it is make any progress.

Architect Andri Luescher bought a small vacant lot in the hills of Mount Washington in 2022, with plans to build a 1,400-square-foot home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms for his family of four.

Now, four years later, he still hasn’t started the build.

An array of mounting fees and permits has delayed his dream, as Luescher bounces between city agencies.

“Going into this, I was aware of how complicated the process is,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “Everybody warned me. But I was still shocked.”

The architect spent a staggering amount of cash before construction could even begin. He dropped $5,000 on reports to document three native trees on the property, and a whopping $17,000 for exemptions so he wouldn’t have to widen his future neighbors’ streets.

He spent hours attending public meetings only to hear neighbors rip the plan. The local homeowners’ group fiercely opposes it.

Meanwhile, a zoning ordinance is also proving to be a barrier. The rule itself isn’t a problem, Luescher told the Times, but getting approval is. He said he has to go to multiple city agencies — including the Department of Building and Safety, the Department of Planning and the Bureau of Engineering — just to get permits and plans reviewed.

“If I was building this house in the hills of Silver Lake or Echo Park, approval would take six months,” Luescher told the Times. “But under this plan, it takes anywhere from two to five years.”

The permits have added up to at least $73,000 so far, and the bill could jump to a staggering $90,000 just to break ground.

Luescher hopes he’ll only need three to six more months for all the approvals, predicting the home will be done by 2027. By then, it will be five years since he bought the lot.

Housing experts have pointed to byzantine permitting processes from cities and other localities as a major factor in why housing costs have skyrocketed in the state.

Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that allows home builders to hire a licensed and certified third-party reviewer to review housing permit applications if the local government cannot or does not complete their permit review within 30 days.

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