Mayor Eric Garcetti recently announced that Los Angeles has been awarded new funding to help tackle our city’s affordable housing crisis.
The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) – a state committee formed by the legislature to advance local community revitalization efforts – has awarded $15 million in new grants for affordable housing projects in L.A. The city has received $30 million total this year from the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) Program.
“Every Angeleno deserves a home to call their own — but for too many that place is out of reach,” said Mayor Garcetti. “Solving L.A.’s affordable housing crisis is about improving the quality of life for our city’s families. We must dedicate as many resources, and as much energy as possible to meeting this challenge — and we’re making progress thanks to partners like the Strategic Growth Council.”
The AHSC grant program supports infill housing and transportation projects that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. L.A.’s $30 million in grants is the largest awarded to any city in California, and follows Mayor Garcetti’s successful advocacy to lift what had previously been a $15 million cap on those awards.
The AHSC funding will aid in the development of new affordable housing, and advance the transformation plans at the Jordan Downs public housing development. It will also provide gap financing for more than 700 units of affordable housing that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions — through mixed-use designs that encourage walking, bicycling, and the use of mass transit. More than 200 of these units are specifically targeted for homeless residents, and about 100 are dedicated to seniors.
“The Strategic Growth Council’s substantial AHSC award to developments in Los Angeles is a true testament to Mayor Garcetti’s leadership to bring alternative funding sources for the production of new affordable housing near transit here in the city,” said Robin Hughes, President and CEO of the affordable housing provider Abode Communities. “The allocation of $4 million for the first phase of our Rolland Curtis Gardens mixed-use community will ensure that more than 330 residents will have access to affordable housing opportunities and vital low-cost health services in a rapidly gentrifying USC-adjacent community in South Los Angeles.”
