The Los Angeles Department of City Planning released a proposal Thursday that it said would help speed construction of homeless housing.

The draft ordinance is part of the city's Comprehensive Homeless Strategy and lays out a plan to increase the construction of housing for the homeless to about 1,000 units per year, up from the current pace of 300 units per year.

"Homelessness has reached epidemic proportions -- and permanent supportive housing is a recognized solution to housing Angelenos living on our streets," said Vince Bertoni, director of the Department of City Planning. "We cannot afford, as a city, to wait any longer before we act."

If approved, the draft Permanent Supportive Housing Ordinance could help the city make good use of funds from a $1.2 billion bond measure approved last year by city voters to construct housing for the homeless. According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the number of homeless people in the city has grown by 20 percent since 2016 to 34,189 .

The city's Comprehensive Homeless Strategy identifies a need to build at least 1,000 units of housing a year to address the growing homeless population. The proposed ordinance aims to consolidate the planning process, speed up development timelines and reduce public costs.

The development of a permanent supportive housing project can take years to complete, the Department of City Planning said, and the draft ordinance could speed some projects up to less than a year.

"This proposed ordinance is critically needed and must be adopted as quickly as possible," said Stephanie Klasky-Gamer, president & CEO of LA Family Housing. "We have an ambitious goal to build 10,000 units of permanent supportive housing over the next 10 years and this ordinance is key to achieving that goal."

The draft ordinance now enters a 60-day comment period and will then be considered by the City Planning Commission before possibly going to the City Council.

