Gubernatorial hopeful Mahan hits LA with plan to incentivize private sector on resi development

"If you don't feel safe, it's really hard to get people to spend time walking around or to operate a business when people are literally stepping over human beings who are suffering laying on the sidewalk. To get people sheltered quickly, he said the state has to stop funding failure, pointing to permanent supportive housing projects that pencil out to close to $1 million per unit and take six or seven years to come to fruition."

"A critic of what he called performative politics, Mahan said his slogan, get California back to basics, means identifying priorities and creating sequential action to tackle the most important issues first. The Democrat, who described himself as radically pragmatic and an urbanist, drew parallels between San Jose's downtown and Los Angeles's, noting both areas were seeing positive movement through new developments and revitalization efforts pre-pandemic."

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan presented his gubernatorial campaign platform at a downtown Los Angeles town hall focused on revitalization. He identified homelessness as the primary priority, emphasizing the need for sequential action to address California's most critical issues first. Mahan criticized current permanent supportive housing projects for their excessive costs—approaching $1 million per unit—and lengthy development timelines of six to seven years. He drew parallels between San Jose's and Los Angeles's downtown recoveries, noting both areas experienced positive momentum pre-pandemic but faced significant challenges post-COVID-19. Downtown Los Angeles currently faces a 31.7 percent office vacancy rate, substantially higher than the county average of 24.8 percent. Mahan advocates for increased developer incentives on residential projects and stopping funding for ineffective housing programs to accelerate solutions.

Read at therealdeal.com