CRA/LA
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About CRA/LA

How CRA/LA Activities Benefit Los Angeles

Economic Development
We help neighborhoods prosper by assisting existing businesses that want to expand and by attracting new businesses, including shops, hotels, offices and industrial users.

Housing
We use specially earmarked housing funds from property tax increment in our project areas to create affordable multi-family housing — either by rehabilitating existing structures or building new ones. Our programs have made possible the construction of energy-efficient and smoke-free affordable apartments near public transit. We also create needed housing especially for seniors, for students, and for the homeless.

Mixed Use
Some of our developments are planned to incorporate a variety of uses, such as condominiums with ground-floor shops,  apartments with community or social services facilities, and entertainment centers with shops, office space and condominiums.

Public Improvements
We upgrade streets and sidewalks, street lightning and building exteriors in our project areas. As a result, walking, riding and driving through a neighborhood becomes an easier and more pleasant experience. Public improvements also  help neighborhood attract new businesses and keep existing ones.

Community Development
To boost the overall livability of neighborhoods in our project areas, we improve public services such as transit centers, public libraries and parks. We also have a public art program.
 undefined Invest in ‘Opportunity Sites’

CRA/LA invests in 32 project areas — Los Angeles neighborhoods that have been left behind in the city’s cycles of prosperity. These areas were selected by request of the community, City Council and other civic leaders and organizations.  Our goal is to enable these communities to reclaim their economic vitality and neighborhood pride.

 

New Housing, Retail & Jobs

As of March 2009, we own 24 “opportunity sites,” many of which are located in South Los Angeles. These sites are expected to yield 80 new housing units and more than 244,000 square feet of retail space, as well as an influx of new jobs.

 

Benefits of Redevelopment

Thanks to our “multiplier effect,” CRA/LA investments have attracted private investors in housing and businesses that provide additional jobs in our 32 project areas. Through tax increment revenue, these investments have also made possible more community services, open space and pedestrian-friendly streets.

 

The benefits of redevelopment can be seen areas such as Downtown, Hollywood, North Hollywood and Canoga Park, which have attracted new residents and new businesses.

 

By tracking the number of permits issued in our project areas — more than 3,700 in 2007 alone — we have determined that our groundwork has made possible more than $1 billion of additional private investment in the City of Los Angeles.