Small Lots, Big Impacts announces RFI for projects on private land

As part of the ongoing Small Lots, Big Impacts initiative, cityLAB-UCLA and Genesis LA have announced a new opportunity to build Missing Middle homeownership projects on small parcels of privately owned land. This offering — distinct from the Small Lots Public Land RFQ announced in March 2025 — expands the initiative to incentivize housing development on privately held small lots across the city.

Now, through a Request for Information (RFI), cityLAB-UCLA and Genesis LA will select development teams to acquire private parcels of land and build up to three Missing Middle homeownership projects in the City of Los Angeles. Through Genesis LA’s Homeownership Innovation Fund, this private land program is expected to support the construction of up to three demonstration projects.

Applications for this new RFI are due June 12, with full details available via the Small Lots, Big Impacts information page.

Since its unveiling in December 2024 at Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s Innovative Construction Expo, and with seed funding from BMO, the Small Lots, Big Impacts initiative has focused on advancing creative strategies for building Missing Middle homeownership projects in Los Angeles more quickly and affordably. Last spring, cityLAB hosted a design competition where over 350 designers gave form to these strategies by creating housing schemes that showed what high-quality, multifamily, attainable homeownership projects could look like.

Ultimately, by catalyzing development on both public and private lots, the initiative aims to produce affordable starter homes that can offer a path to homeownership for first-time homebuyers that have been priced out of LA’s housing market.

To effectively deliver new housing units, winning teams will receive a robust financing package from Genesis LA’s newly created Small Lots, Big Impacts Homeownership Innovation Fund, which provides favorable lending terms covering up to 95% of total development costs, including land acquisition, predevelopment, and construction.

Teams who respond to the RFI will be evaluated based on how well their work reflects the goals and design objectives of the Small Lots, Big Impacts initiative: to show how infill construction, shared amenities, and compact, affordable communities can present viable alternatives to the detached single-family house.

Please visit the RFI information page for more details.