neighborhoodS That Works for Everyone

Hollywood needs more homes, faster—especially on our commercial streets and near jobs, schools, transit, and everyday neighborhood services. These are the places where housing does the most work for people’s daily lives and for our local economy.

Grow Hollywood backs adaptive reuse of empty and underused buildings, small residential‑over‑retail projects along our corridors, and neighborhood‑serving homes that let residents stay rooted where their lives, jobs, and communities already are. Instead of dark upper floors and vacant lots, we should be adding lights-on homes above active storefronts.

We advocate for clear rules and streamlined approvals so good projects that match community plans can move in years, not decades -turning long‑vacant properties into stable homes that support health, safety, and small businesses. Housing and “whole streets” go hand in hand: wider sidewalks, safer crossings, trees, storefronts, and homes all working together so people can live, work, and move safely on the same block.

health

Healthy lives start in everyday places that lower stress, foster connection, and create real opportunity.

• Health is green space. Studies show that access to trees and parks is linked to better general health, lower mortality, and lower risk of mental health disorders over time. Time in nature reduces stress hormones, improves mood, and even supports higher physical activity.

• Health is aesthetics. Research on the built environment shows that well-designed, well-maintained, beautiful spaces support better mental health, while degraded environments increase psychological distress. Color, design, and care in our streets and buildings shape how safe, calm, and connected people feel.

• Health is third places. Third places: parks, plazas, cafés, libraries, and cultural centers, create social support that protects well-being across the lifespan. At the same time, we know that social isolation is as harmful to health as smoking many cigarettes a day, increasing risks for depression and heart disease.

• Health is purpose. Programs that combine stable housing with community, creativity, and services help people move from crisis to stability; Corazón del Valle, for example, pairs affordable homes with on-site care and support for residents coming out of homelessness. Hollywood Arts showed how creative work and belonging can reconnect young people to purpose and possibility.

• Health is economic foundation. Walkable, people-centered streets are linked to higher local spending, more job opportunities, and stronger small business corridors. When neighborhoods are safe, green, and active, both residents and local businesses are more likely to thrive.

neighborhood economy

Hollywood’s neighborhood economy should first work for the people who live and work here—and then for our tourists. Grow Hollywood puts local needs at the center by cleaning and securing commercial corridors, filling vacant storefronts, and backing small businesses, street vendors, and creative workers who keep the district alive.

We pair safer streets, greening and rewilding, and flexible, neighborhood‑serving zoning with access to capital and hands‑on technical help, so underused blocks can become walkable main streets. Tree‑lined pedestrian corridors improve walkability and climate resilience, while creating natural gathering spaces where neighbors meet, ideas flow, and creative collaboration turns into local jobs and community wealth.

Tools for growth are the levers Grow Hollywood uses to turn ideas into on‑the‑ground change across housing, health, and the neighborhood economy.

• Corridor plans that set clear, pro‑housing and pro‑small‑business rules for Hollywood’s main streets so good projects can move by right instead of fighting parcel by parcel.

• Streamlined approvals and a “right to a timely decision” that limit discretionary veto points, cap hearing delays, and let compliant projects advance in months, not years.

• Adaptive reuse and residential‑over‑retail playbooks that show how to convert empty buildings and underused lots into homes, clinics, and neighborhood‑serving spaces.

• Funding and investment strategies - public, philanthropic, and private - that channel capital into small businesses, corridor greening, supportive housing, and community health infrastructure.

• Policy research and model ordinances for housing, health access, street vending, and public‑realm improvements that residents, businesses, and policymakers can pick up and use.

• Technical assistance and design support for community groups, vendors, and small property owners so they can navigate permits, grants, and regulations instead of being shut out.

• Coalition‑building and advocacy training that equip neighbors, workers, and local merchants to organize, testify, and hold the city accountable for delivering on Hollywood’s plans.

Community wealth & ownership

• Support community land trusts, cooperative ownership models, and shared commercial spaces so local tenants aren’t displaced when corridors heat up.

• Promote local hiring, job pipelines, and worker training connected to innovation hubs, film/TV, and tourism so residents capture more of the value created.

Small business stability

• Create emergency stabilization tools for small businesses and vendors - grants, bridge loans, and commercial rent protections - to survive downturns, construction, or pandemics.

• Build a “back office” support system: help with permitting, licensing, bookkeeping, and digital marketing so neighborhood businesses can compete and grow.

Economic diversification

• Encourage a mix of sectors - creative industries, health and social services, neighborhood retail, and tech - so Hollywood isn’t overexposed to one industry or tourist cycles.

• Recruit mission-aligned anchor tenants (clinics, schools, arts organizations, training centers) that stay through cycles and generate steady foot traffic for nearby businesses.

Social safety & climate resilience

• Tie economic strategy to climate resilience: shade, cooling, stormwater infrastructure, and clean energy so extreme heat or storms don’t shut down streets and businesses.

• Integrate housing stability, street outreach, and mental health supports into corridor planning, recognizing that visible disorder and displacement undermine long-term economic health.