How does California's density bonus law work, and how does it interact with TOC in LA?
State density bonus law (Government Code 65915) gives residential projects extra units, concessions, and waivers in exchange for affordable set-asides: reserving 15% of base units for very-low-income households earns a 50% density bonus, with smaller set-asides earning less and AB 1287 (2024) allowing a second, stacked bonus up to 100% total for additional affordable or moderate-income units. Projects also get concessions (relaxed development standards) on a sliding scale, up to five since AB 1287 for a project that is 100% lower-income, unlimited waivers of standards that would physically block the bonus units, and reduced parking. In Los Angeles the local alternative is no longer TOC: the Citywide Housing Incentive Program, adopted 7 February 2025 and operative that month, replaced it, codifying the TOC tiers as Transit-Oriented Incentive Areas and adding a corridor-based Mixed-Income Incentive Program alongside an affordable-housing track. And from 1 July 2026, SB 79 sets a new floor near qualifying transit in LA County that a site can be underwritten against instead.
Answered by Shaya Lowenstein, a Los Angeles multifamily broker at Lyon Stahl Investment Real Estate, CA DRE 01942326, with 15 years in apartment buildings and land across Los Angeles County. His closed sales are published with addresses and recording dates, so anything claimed here can be checked against the county record.
Start typing the address. The answer comes from the county roll and the city ordinance, on this page, free, with no email required.
The mechanics that create value.
The bonus is arithmetic on base zoning: a lot allowing 20 units by right with a 15% very-low set-aside (3 units) can build 30; push affordability further under AB 1287 and qualifying projects reach double the base density. Concessions are where the pro forma really moves: height, setbacks, open space, and FAR, because each one waives a standard that would otherwise cost units or money, and the city must grant them unless it makes specific findings. Waivers are broader still: any standard that physically precludes the bonus density must yield. The affordable units are the purchase price of density the zoning map does not show.
Density bonus vs TOC: pricing both schemes.
The city's local implementation of the same trade is now CHIP, which took over from TOC in February 2025: the old tier-based bonuses near major transit (roughly 50-80%) were codified as Transit-Oriented Incentive Areas, and corridor sites get the separate Mixed-Income Incentive Program. Read the current tier tables rather than the TOC ones. A project uses one program or the other, and the answer differs parcel by parcel: TOC tiers can beat the state base bonus near rail, while AB 1287 stacking or moderate-income options can beat TOC elsewhere or on deeper-affordability schemes, and 100%-affordable projects may do better still under ED1. When I bring a development-adjacent building to market, the offering shows the strongest scheme, because developers bid on buildable units, not on the zoning code. The seller who never ran the analysis leaves that bid unbid.
EDUCATIONAL ONLY, NOT LEGAL OR TAX ADVICE. RATES, THRESHOLDS AND ORDINANCES CHANGE, AND SEVERAL OF THE FIGURES HERE DEPEND ON FACTS SPECIFIC TO YOU. CONFIRM ANYTHING YOU PLAN TO ACT ON WITH YOUR OWN ATTORNEY OR CPA, OR WITH THE AGENCY THAT SETS IT.
Do the affordable units stay affordable forever?
They are deed-restricted for a covenant term (55 years for rentals is the standard) recorded against the property. Buyers of completed bonus projects inherit the covenant.
Can a small project use the density bonus?
Yes. The law applies to projects of five or more units, and even small multifamily can trade one or two affordable units for meaningful extra density. The math gets checked project by project.
Does the density bonus override my lot's zoning?
It builds on top of it: base density comes from zoning, then the bonus multiplies it. It does not rezone commercial land to residential, though other state laws sometimes do that job.
SHAYA LOWENSTEIN · LYON STAHL INVESTMENT REAL ESTATE · DRE #01942326 · (323) 944-2221