Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa named Douglas Guthrie general manager of the Los Angeles Housing Department last November.  Before arriving in L.A., Guthrie was the deputy executive director and chief operating officer of the Chicago Housing Authority and an advisor to Obama on housing and urban policy.  

One of Guthrie's top priorities is to revive Mayor Villaraigosa's mixed-income housing ordinance, which would require city developers to include a designated percentage of affordable housing units within their development or face paying a fee to the city. 

The push for the ordinance was brought to a halt when Los Angeles developer, Geoff Palmer sued the city to avoid including low-income units in his downtown housing development, Piero II.  Palmer's case was upheld in the California Supreme Court last year. 

In an interview, Guthrie said that, despite these challenges, mixed-income housing is a viable solution for the L.A. housing crisis. 

LeTania Kirkland: Why L.A.?

Douglas Guthrie:  It's kind of hard to turn down the sorts of challenges that a world-class city like Los Angeles presents when it comes to all of the various affordable housing issues. I liked the opportunity and liked the mayor and knew some folks out here and decided to take this challenge on. 

LK: Affordable housing has become increasingly challenging issue in L.A., especially given the foreclosure crisis. What will be your greatest challenges in the coming year? 

DG: First of all, there aren't enough resources available to develop new affordable housing. There are many non-profits that have a pipeline of new development deals that they've spent time and money preparing for and many of those are stuck right now between the state budget crisis as well as there not being enough money in our affordable housing trust fund to meet all these needs. 

Secondly, Los Angeles has a huge foreclosure problem, particularly in South Los Angeles as well as the Valley. We were recently awarded an additional $100 million in the form of the neighborhood stabilization program that's going to allow us resources to do what we can to help stabilize these heavily impacted neighborhoods. We'll do that by way of purchasing foreclosed homes and rehabilitating those homes and getting them back into the market place. I think you will see a great deal of activity in the coming months along those lines. 

There's also the very controversial issue of mixed income housing in the city and mixed income-housing ordinance. I believe in mixed income housing. I believe there are some things that can and should be done and I don't want to see that tabled. 

LK: How do you think mixed-income housing can help Los Angeles?

Well, a mixed- income housing ordinance you build in as public policy. It's a stated public policy that when housing is newly developed then it is highly appropriate that that housing does what it can to address a broad spectrum of income. It doesn't become a one off affordable housing development; it becomes part of the way that the city builds itself out over years. If it can be done right you're making more affordable housing available in the city. It's really necessary in a high cost area like Los Angeles. It's the right thing to do. 

DG: What are the issues?

The real issue comes from a developer perspective. Of course, they don't want any constraints and they want it to be as profitable as it can be for this sort of capital they are putting in and for the risk they are taking.  On the other side of the spectrum, I think many of the housing advocates would like to see it be as affordable as possible. So you would have new units that are affordable to very low ands low income residents. Somewhere in between is where it probably needs to end up. It's got to be economically feasible. That's where the real challenge is where do you find that balance so that it doesn't stifle development altogether, on the one hand, but it's meeting a public purpose goal on the other hand? I think that's what all the vigorous debate is about. 

LK: Where is the balance?

DG: I think it's not so much about marrying housing with formal programs. It's trying to find a way that you can continue to encourage housing development but to set aside a portion to reach income levels that you wouldn't unless you had some policy program in place. It is complex and, if I reengage this topic, I don't expect the debate to be any less vigorous. 

LK: How will you try to revive the debate?

DG: I've asked to buy a little bit of time to insert myself into the conversation, evaluate what the court said and see if there is a way to pick this up and move it forward. That's where I currently am on this issue. I'm going to be taking hard look at it. 

LK: What role will non-profit housing organizations play in improving housing in Los Angeles?

DG: The non-profit community has become an integral part of the affordable housing delivery system. It's really grown up. They moved beyond just delivery of service to actual development, expertise and owners of real estate. I have an affinity for the non-profits. I intend to continue to have a very close working relationship with them. 

LK: You mentioned that the affordable housing trust fund was not sufficient. How do you imagine that will improve?

DG: The primary funds that go into that fund are coming through home dollars by way of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  Last year, they were increased significantly but I don't expect that to continue. There's a new initiative that is in the legislative process in D.C. that is called the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund. I expect the National Housing Trust Fund to be put in place and available before the end of this calendar year and I would expect us to do what we can to get at least our fair share of the funds. 

LK: How do you think President Obama's 2011 budget proposal will affect the housing situation here in L.A.?

DG: The Department of Housing and Urban Development is going to be dealing with budgetary constraints. They're really trying to fine-tune their budget to put the money where it needs to be. There's going to be a focus on homelessness, there's going to be a focus on trying to direct sources to very low income. I think that we're going to find that, even with the budgetary constraints, that this is a very supportive budget for what we're doing here. 

LK: What did you glean from your experience working in Chicago, that is applicable here in L.A.?

DG: I used to kid around with people that would say, "It's not rocket science." I said, "It's harder than rocket science." It's easier to do in a stronger marketplace, particularly when you're doing mixed income. Part of that mix is market rate housing and you need to be able to develop a market for that housing to make the overall financing viable. It takes a lot of effort but I think the end product is clearly well worth it. I'm a strong believer that mixed-income housing is a very good approach. It's just harder and takes longer to get it done.