L.A. leaders want to save downtown garment jobs. But that could mean fewer new homes

Two years ago, policymakers at Los Angeles City Hall came up with a plan to dramatically increase the number of new homes that could be built in downtown L.A., part of their larger strategy for addressing the region's rapidly rising housing costs.

The city's planning department released DTLA 2040, a 20-year road map for growth that, if approved by the City Council, would increase downtown's housing supply by up to 100,000 units. That's enough to satisfy one-fifth of the need citywide, planners say.

But a key element of that plan has drawn fierce opposition from some of downtown's lowest-wage workers, who fear that new condominiums and apartment towers will push out garment businesses. Those workers, and their allies in organized labor,