Senior Facility Approved for Woodland Hills Home Lot, Despite Neighbor Outcry
The three-story building, across from Taft High, will have no parking at all.
September 10, 2026 · Woodland Hills
A single-family home in Woodland Hills is on track to become a 71-unit senior living facility, after the Los Angeles City Planning Commission signed off on the project late last month over fierce objections from neighbors.
The four-bedroom house sits on Del Moreno Dr., across from Taft High School, with residential streets on one side and the commercial strip along Ventura Blvd. on the other. Owners Akhilesh and Janet Jha want to replace it with a three-story building holding 71 units of roughly 210 square feet each, along with a cafeteria and medical office, [Fox 11 is reporting](https://www.foxla.com/news/woodland-hills-residents-oppose-71-unit-senior-living-facility). The facility could house up to 142 residents.
The project includes no parking.
Neighbors packed the hearing to oppose the plan, citing the lack of parking, the site's location in a fire hazard zone and the risk of evacuating dozens of seniors during an emergency. Several accused the Jhas of exploiting state housing law to turn a profit.
Because eight of the units are set aside for very low-income renters, the project qualifies for state density bonus incentives, which allow developers to bypass local rules on height, density and parking. Commissioners said their hands were largely tied.
"The state has really over the last decade gone above and beyond to tie our hands," one commissioner said, according to [Canyon News](https://www.canyon-news.com/woodland-hills-neighbors-clash-with-developer-over-senior-facility/), before the panel voted unanimously to approve a dozen waivers for the project.
The hearing itself grew heated, with the Jhas trading barbs with residents. At one point, Janet Jha reportedly told opponents, "I'm gonna do black magic on you."
The Del Moreno Dr. property has been a battleground for years. Jha, an engineer turned developer, first proposed a seven-story building on the site about four years ago, [Urbanize LA is reporting](https://la.urbanize.city/post/eldercare-facility-approved-site-5353-n-del-moreno-dr-woodland-hills). The city rejected it several times, before a court ruled the project could move forward, finding the property's general plan designation allows multifamily housing despite its single-family zoning.
Jha has said he expects at least two more years of hearings and permitting before construction. Residents have vowed to fight it the entire way.