California — Los Angeles County

built for LADBS and LA’s density bonus programs:

Affordable housing to subdivisions

From ADU/JADU plan check to multifamily entitlement under CHIP and the State Density Bonus Law, JDJ moves your project through LADBS and City Planning with the same hands-on coordination we bring to every market.

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How Los Angeles Regulates Development

The framework, in JDJ’s words

Each market on this site runs its own code, department names, and review process. Here is how entitlement work moves through Los Angeles.

Every project in the city sits on multiple possible layers of density and approval relief, and knowing which one, or which stack, applies is the single biggest lever in an LA feasibility study. This part of the code has moved fast over the past 18 months, so we verify current program status at project intake rather than relying on what applied even a year ago.

Governing Code
LA Municipal Code (LAMC)

Department
LADBS, City Planning, LAFD, LADWP, BOE

Review Layer
Discretionary & Ministerial Review

Regulates Development

How Los Angeles Regulates Development

State Density Bonus Law

State Density Bonus Law is the statewide floor. Any qualifying project offering affordable units can request additional density, reduced parking, and development incentives or waivers, regardless of where it sits in the city.

CHIP (Citywide Housing Incentive Program)

Operative since February 2025, it is now the city’s primary local density bonus ordinance and replaced the old TOC program. CHIP offers three tracks: the State Density Bonus Program, the AHIP (Affordable Housing Incentive Program) for 80 to 100 percent affordable and faith-based or community land trust projects, and the MIIP (Mixed-Income Incentive Program) for corridor and transition-area sites, which extends incentives well beyond the old half-mile transit radius. The former TOC transit tiers now live inside CHIP as TOIA (Transit-Oriented Incentive Areas). Depending on the track and location, CHIP can unlock a larger density bonus, floor area increase, and parking reduction than transit proximity alone used to allow under TOC.

The Affordable Housing Streamlining Ordinance

The Affordable Housing Streamlining Ordinance applies to 100 percent affordable housing projects and shelters. Qualifying projects move through a ministerial approval process with a 60 day review target and are exempt from discretionary hearings, provided the project does not require a zone change, variance, or General Plan amendment. City Council adopted this ordinance in December 2025, folding it permanently into the LAMC. It originated as a temporary mayoral directive known as Executive Directive 1 (ED1), but that directive has been retired and replaced by the ordinance, it is no longer the operative instrument. Eligibility carve-outs for single-family zones and historic districts are now fixed into the ordinance rather than subject to further executive revision. In practice, most projects moving through this pathway and through CHIP’s AHIP track are LIHTC-financed, since the same 80 to 100 percent affordability thresholds that qualify a project for local streamlining also align with Low-Income Housing Tax Credit eligibility. We coordinate the entitlement and permitting timeline against a project’s LIHTC application and allocation deadlines, since a missed local approval window can cost a project its funding round.

SB 79

SB 79, the statewide Abundant and Affordable Homes Near Transit Act, became operative July 1, 2026, and applies in Los Angeles County as an urban transit county. It upzones qualifying sites near major transit stops by state mandate, independent of local CHIP or zoning action, though the City is phasing in local implementation through its own Low-Rise and Phased Implementation Ordinances. Where a site qualifies under both SB 79 and CHIP, the two need to be compared directly, since one is not automatically the better outcome.

JDJ’s role is verifying which of these apply to a given parcel before a client commits to a purchase or a pro forma, since the density and parking assumptions baked into a feasibility study change significantly depending on the answer, and depending on when the study was run.

Beyond the density bonus stack, City Planning and LADBS administer several other state law pathways worth screening on any given site: SB 9 (urban lot splits and two-unit development on single-family zoned parcels), AB 2011 (ministerial approval for converting underused commercial and retail sites to housing), AB 2097 (elimination of parking minimums near major transit), and AB 2234 (streamlined, deadline-driven post-entitlement permit review). Depending on the parcel, one or more of these can apply alongside or instead of CHIP or SB 79.

Los Angeles Service Offerings

What JDJ handles in Los Angeles

Entitlement and permitting activity remains steady across project types citywide. Here is how JDJ moves projects through the process.

01. Entitlements & Land Use

Zoning & LAMC Compliance Review

Zoning verification before you commit to a site.

Change-of-Use Permitting

Adaptive reuse and occupancy conversions

State Density Bonus & CHIP Track Analysis

Determining base density, applicable CHIP track (AHIP, MIIP, or TOIA), and available incentives or waivers for a given parcel

AB 2011 Commercial-to-Housing Screening

Evaluating underused commercial and retail sites for ministerial housing conversion

ADU/JADU Entitlement Screening

Multi-unit eligibility review on qualifying multifamily lots

AB 2097 Parking Analysis

Confirming parking minimum elimination near qualifying transit

Affordable Housing Streamlining Screening

Confirming whether a 100 percent affordable project qualifies for ministerial review

LIHTC Timeline Coordination

Aligning entitlement and permitting milestones with Low-Income Housing Tax Credit application and allocation deadlines

SB 79 Eligibility Screening

Confirming whether a site qualifies for state-mandated transit density under SB 79, and comparing that outcome against CHIP

Multifamily Site Feasibility

Density, setback, and parking analysis under base zoning and applicable bonus programs

SB 9 Urban Lot Split & Two-Unit Screening

Evaluating single-family parcels for lot split and two-unit development eligibility

Discretionary Entitlement Processing

Site Plan Review, Conditional Use Permits, and zone variances where a project falls outside ministerial pathways

02. Permit Expediting

LADBS Plan Check Coordination via ePlanLA

Submittal management and corrections tracking through the city's online plan check system

AB 2234 Post-Entitlement Permit Tracking

Holding the city to state-mandated review deadlines once entitlements are secured

Certificate of Occupancy Coordination

Final sign-off scheduling

Multi-Trade Review Coordination

Building, Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing

Standard Plan Program & Express Permit Navigation

Routing eligible projects through pre-approved plan and no-plan-check pathways via PermitLA

03. Due Diligence & Feasibility

Jurisdiction Verification

Confirming whether a parcel falls under the City of Los Angeles or LA County (unincorporated area or Contract City), since the governing code and reviewing agency differ.

Pre-Development Feasibility

Site screening, including density bonus and CHIP track verification, before you buy

Hold Letter & Letter of Compliance Coordination

Securing agency confirmation letters before close of escrow

Local Relevance

What actually shapes a project here

The issues, timelines, and project types that come up most often when we work in Los Angeles.

Common Land Use Issues
The most frequent issue we see is a project's density and parking assumptions built on the wrong bonus program, or a program that no longer exists. TOC was replaced by CHIP in February 2025, and sites that once penciled under a TOC tier need to be re-run against CHIP's AHIP, MIIP, or TOIA tracks, which don't map one to one with the old tiers. SB 79, newly operative as of July 1, 2026, adds a separate state-mandated layer near qualifying transit stops that some sites can access even outside CHIP. Older properties also surface deed restrictions or legacy zoning conflicts that do not show up until plan check, which is why we screen for all of this upfront.

Timelines & Hurdles
Processing timelines vary by project type and review track. Ministerial pathways, including pre-approved plan programs and the Affordable Housing Streamlining Ordinance's 60 day target, move considerably faster than discretionary entitlements, which can run several months once corrections cycles and any required hearings are factored in.

We verify current processing timelines with LADBS and City Planning at project intake rather than relying on published averages, since queue times and program rules both continue to shift.

Notable Project Types

We're seeing continued multifamily infill activity on corridor and near-transit sites now governed by CHIP, a steady flow of LIHTC-financed 100 percent affordable projects moving through the Affordable Housing Streamlining Ordinance, early SB 79 feasibility inquiries as that law's local implementation takes shape, and a consistent baseline of ADU and JADU conversions alongside the rest.

FAQ

Questions we hear most in Los Angeles

Q. What happened to TOC ?

TOC was replaced by CHIP (Citywide Housing Incentive Program) in February 2025. The old transit-proximity incentives now live inside CHIP as the TOIA track, alongside two additional tracks, AHIP and MIIP, that were not available under TOC. If a feasibility study or pro forma still references TOC tiers, it needs to be re-run against current CHIP tracks.

Q. What’s the difference between CHIP and State Density Bonus Law?

State Density Bonus Law is a statewide program available to any qualifying site. CHIP is a Los Angeles specific ordinance layered on top of it, with three tracks depending on affordability level and location, and generally offers larger bonuses than the state law alone. A project can potentially use one or the other, but generally not both at full value on the same units, so we run the comparison before recommending a path.

Q. Does my project qualify for the Affordable Housing Streamlining Ordinance?

It applies to 100 percent affordable housing projects and shelters that do not require a zone change, variance, or General Plan amendment. If your project is mixed income or market rate, this pathway does not apply, though State Density Bonus Law or CHIP may still be available.

Q. Does SB 79 apply to my site?

SB 79 became operative July 1, 2026, and applies to qualifying sites near major transit stops in Los Angeles County. It works independently of CHIP, though the City is phasing in local implementation, so eligibility for a specific parcel depends on both the state map and the City’s current implementing ordinances. We check both before advising on which path fits a given site.

Q. My project is LIHTC-financed, does that change the entitlement process?

Not the entitlement pathway itself, most LIHTC-financed projects already qualify for the Affordable Housing Streamlining Ordinance or CHIP’s AHIP track based on their affordability level. What it does change is the timeline: local approvals need to land before your tax credit application and allocation deadlines, not after, so we build the entitlement schedule around your LIHTC calendar rather than the other way around.

Q. Can I split my single-family lot into two under SB 9?

Possibly, if the lot meets the state’s minimum size, access, and other eligibility standards. SB 9 also allows a two-unit development on a qualifying single-family lot without a split. We screen both options against your specific parcel before recommending a path.

Q. My site has an LA address, does that mean LADBS handles my permit?

Not necessarily. An LA mailing address can sit in the City of Los Angeles, in unincorporated LA County, or in a Contract City that uses the County for building and safety, and each has a different reviewing agency and process. We verify jurisdiction before scoping any project.