Small Lots, Big Impacts

Year: 2025-2026

Over the past two decades, cityLAB has successfully identified and unlocked housing development opportunities on land that has previously been overlooked. First, Accessory Dwelling Units doubled the density of California’s single family residential fabric. Next, Education Workforce Housing allowed California’s school districts to build housing for their teachers and staff on underutilized district land. Now, in coordination with the City of Los Angeles, cityLAB is working to unlock small parcels of public land for housing development to address the city’s housing affordability challenges. This initiative, titled Small Lots, Big Impacts, will build a path to a better future for Los Angeles—one where small parcels of city-owned land offer a new generation of homeowners the chance to thrive while improving their neighborhoods.

Within the Los Angeles city boundary there are 1,040 parcels owned by the City of Los Angeles that are big enough to build at least one unit of housing, already zoned for residential use, less than ¼ acre, and currently underutilized. 24,502 similar parcels are owned by private entities. If each of these were to hold 5 units of housing, that would produce ~127,000 new homes for Angelenos while gently increasing the city’s density.

To demonstrate the potential impact of this work, cityLAB is working alongside the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office, the Housing Department, and City Council members on a two-phase design and development initiative. In the first phase, a design competition, designers, architects, and students will be asked to propose homeownership models on some of the city’s small lots to help set the course for a more equitable, affordable, and sustainable future. After the raging fires of early 2025 that expanded the housing crisis, destroyed whole neighborhoods, and destabilized all Angelenos, forecasting a more resilient 21st century urbanism in the Southwest and beyond is all the more urgent.

In the second phase, through a development team RFQ process, the City of Los Angeles will award its land to development teams that use the innovative ideas from phase 1 to construct high-quality prototypes. The City of Los Angeles will lead the way for future private development by using city land to demonstrate the feasibility of Small Lots, Big Impacts projects.

Throughout the initiative, we will share development lessons, design approaches, policy implications, and strategies for practice to increase the capacity of Los Angeles’ housing development community.