By Jorge Casuso

April 20, 2021 -- Community Corp., Santa Monica's affordable housing provider, broke ground Monday on a $35 million project that will offer rare apartments for large low-income families.

Bankrolled with $13.3 million from the City, the 48-unit low-income project at 1819 Pico Boulevard includes 33 units that target very low-income households.

Rendering of Community Corp. development at 1819 Pico Boulevard (Courtesy Brooks + Scarpa)

The development, which includes a small business marketplace and cafe, features 22 one-bedroom, 14 two-bedroom and 12 three-bedroom apartments, according to the City.

The four-story project will "increase affordable housing opportunities for large families in Santa Monica who typically have difficulty finding appropriately-sized housing in the city," Community Corp. officials said.

The total estimated cost of the development is $35,004,723 or $729,265 per residence, according to the agency's loan application.

The City’s share from it Affordable Housing Trust Fund is $13.3 million, or about $277,000 per residence.

The groundbreaking comes as Santa Monica prepares to meet a State-mandated housing target that calls planning 8,895 new units in eight years, 6,168 of them affordable.

The City Council last month embarked on a strategy that relies more on public land and funding and less on market-rate developers required to include affordable units ("Divided Council Approves Plan to Meet State's Affordable Housing Mandate," April 6, 2021).

Since the City's Affordable Housing Production Program (AHPP) was launched in 1994, a total of 2,034 affordable units have been produced -- less than one-third of the newly mandated number.

Of those, private developments -- which must include affordable units on or off-site or fund their production -- have generated 817, or 40 percent of the affordable units.

The other 60 percent -- 1,217 units -- have been funded by the City, according to staff.

Nearly all of them have been built or restored by Community Corp., a non-profit housing provider founded by community leaders in 1982.

Since then, Community Corp. has built or restored more than 80 properties throughout the City that total more than 1,700 affordable units, organization officials said.

Community Corp's latest project includes 15 units for low-income households, 22 for very low-income households and 11 units for extremely low-income households.