Many affordable housing programs in Los Angeles have built-in requirements for developers to staff construction sites with union workers and pay higher wages.

But city leaders decided not to impose such rules on most affordable housing developments using the widely adopted Executive Directive 1 streamlining program after city planners told them the rules could stop many projects from moving forward.

ED1 is popular with developers because it grants fast-tracked approvals from the city, as long as all of a project’s apartments are reserved for low or moderate-income renters. Without this streamlining, the city’s approval process can often take more than a year.

The L.A. City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee voted 4-0 Tuesday to advance a plan that would require

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