The Small Lot Ordinance policy was introduced in 2005; its aim was to present affordable housing opportunities for families with low and medium income. This paper aims to analyze the background, the content, and the successfulness of the policy. The Past The affordable housing crisis began in the 1990s, and was the cause of shortfall of 300.000 units; Los Angeles area was the second most overcrowded in the United States (Whittemore, 2012). Moreover, in 2001 15% of the households in the Los Angeles area were overcrowded. The number of affordable housing units that was built each year was 8.000; however, the city needed 60.000 units to overcome the crisis and provide affordable units to the citizens. Background and Initial Problems Due to the crisis, the cost of housing was extremely high. Low wage service workers were forced to move to other suburban areas, as they could not afford the units that the market offered them: a two-bedroom apartment cost 766$ per month, and a minimum wage worker needed to work 100 hours per week to cover the rent expenses ( Los Angeles city council’s , 2000). As the report of the crisis task force had stated, thousands of units would be demolished so that residential and school construction units could take their place. However, such means would only increase the rent and make the remaining units unaffordable for low wage workers and families with low income. This crisis made the housing units unaffordable not only for low-income families but also for those with the median income as well. As the Task Force had noticed, the houses were mostly affordable only for the families with high income, while the others had to move to other areas in search for cheaper rent ( Los Angeles city council’s , 2000). Between 1998 and 1999, only 1.940 new housing units were built, while the population of the area had increased by 65.000 people ( Los Angeles city council’s , 2000). Some argued that the city designed such plans that were no longer relevant, as the problem with the shortage of the land was ignored by the authorities (Whittemore, 2012). Thus, the number of overcrowded units continued to grow. By 1990, there were more than 40.000 illegal dwelling units in the area (Whittemore, 2012). Although a joint task force advised rehabilitating the units, many homeowners refused to accept this measure as a suitable one. Thus, the problem remained unresolved. How the Problems Were Measured Los Angeles has implemented various strategies and sub-strategies to defeat high cost of the housing units and high density of the areas: infill development, smart growth, affordable housing, and, of course, small lot developments. The problems with the infill development were discussed by Steinacker (2003) who stressed their diseconomies of scale and time- and money-consuming rezoning of the city. As some of these land parcels were previously in industrial use, they were obviously not able to provide a healthy environment for future residents. Infill development is expected to attract middle to high-income families; however, it is not always possible, at least due to environmental hazards that the land parcels may present (Steinacker, 2003). Moreover, such housing units are definitely not “affordable” and