Funding & Financing

Like many cities around the world, Los Angeles is already experiencing the impacts of climate change first hand. In order to align with state and regional climate goals, the city of Los Angeles is taking steps to help residents adapt and become more resilient in the face of these changes, while simultaneously mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through targeted policies, such as building decarbonization.

Assembly Bill 551 (AB 551), California’s Urban Agricultural Incentive Zones (UAIZ) Act, provides tax incentives to landowners to transform vacant lots into small-scale agricultural plots. Major benefits of implementing AB 551 include:  Reduced number of food deserts across the City of Los Angeles.  Reduced transportation pollution from shipping produce.  Creation of new green spaces in previously vacant lots.  Expansion of local farming coupled with sustainable agriculture technologies.  Thus, the implementation of AB 551 is crucial to ensure the City of L.A. meets its 2025 Sustainable City pLAn outcome to increase urban agriculture sites by 25%. The objective of this project is to research the adoption and implementation methods of other California cities and counties that have already adopted AB 551 to relay this information to LAFPC and to share the best implementation strategies for the City of L.A.