The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors was scheduled to vote last Tuesday on a tax-exempt mortgage worth $8 million to finance the acquisition of 41-unit multifamily rental housing development in Santa Monica. However, Santa Monica will have to wait until July 22 to find out what happens, as the supervisors tabled the agenda item for two weeks.
If ultimately approved, the supervisors would direct revenue bonds to the bayside city to allow the Santa Monica Rental Housing Construction Program (RHCP) to acquire a site and develop 29 two-bedroom units and 12 three-bedroom units at three separate locations: 1855 Ninth Street, 1450 14th Street, and 2006 20th Street.
Upon approval, the bonds would be issued by the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles (HACoLA).
The units would meet affordable housing requirements. According to County staff, eight of the 41 units would allocated to households with incomes not exceeding 50 percent of the area median income (AMI). Another 32 units would be reserved for households with incomes that do not exceed 60 percent of the AMI, County staff stated.
One unit is reserved for the on-site manager and does not include any affordability requirements, according to County staff.
The AMI would be based upon the Los Angeles-Long Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area and adjusted for household size.
County staff added the affordability requirements would remain in place for 55 years.
Los Angeles County was approached for as an alternate source of financing for the 41-unit project after the RHCP and the California Housing and Community Development Dept. determined they could no longer subsidize the three properties at a financially sustainable level beyond 2015.
The HACoLA plans to seek low-income housing tax credits from the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (CTCAC).
Should they be issued, the bonds would be tax-exempt and assist both the County and City to financially restructure each of the three properties to maintain 41 affordable housing units.
Until 2012, City Hall regularly funded affordable housing programs with redevelopment funds. However, after Gov. Jerry Brown successfully campaigned to shut down redevelopment agencies across the state, funding for affordable housing programs in Santa Monica was almost immediately jeopardized.
The supervisors adopted a resolution in July 2013 to approve the issuance of the bonds. However, the bonds were never issued due to stalls in negotiations with the property landlord. If the supervisors vote on and approve the bonds at the July 22 meeting, then the bonds would have to be issued within the next 12 months. County staff estimated the bonds, if approved, would be issued no later than Dec. 31.
In other matters, the Board of Supervisors voted July 8 to allocate $15.5 million replace the boat docks by Burton Chace Park in Marina del Rey. By July 2016, there will reportedly be 11 total docks with 253 slips capable of accommodating larger and more modern boats as well as being compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The docks currently accommodate 330 boat slips but, according to the County, are outdated.
Also to be upgraded, according to County staff, are the boardwalk adjacent to the boat slips, the parking area, and the restrooms.
