Proposition HHH Helps Fund Affordable Housing
Construction on the Thatcher Yard affordable housing development is slated for 2020. At more than 100,000 square-foot, the project that will bring 98 units of affordable and supportive housing for senior citizens and formerly homeless families, also provides opportunities for construction workers.
Steps to address homelessness
Los Angeles voters in 2016 approved Measure HHH, a $1.2 billion bond to subsidize the development of 10,000 units of much-needed affordable and permanent supportive housing across the city. The Measure has given developers an early cash infusion to get projects underway.
“(HHH is) integral in getting these projects built and financed,” said Linc Housing Chief Operating Officer Suny Lay Chang.
This includes $11.6 million earmarked specifically for Thatcher Yard, a 2.1-acre vacant city maintenance yard at 3233 S. Thatcher Avenue to be developed by Thomas Safran & Associates.
Breaking ground
Construction is anticipated to begin in the third quarter of 2020 and with a completion date expected in the second quarter of 2022. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti who led the coalition to pass HHH noted, “I am more determined than ever to get them built as quickly as possible.”
Plans for the project located in the Venice neighborhood of Oxford Triangle (abutting Lincoln Boulevard and Admiralty Way) are for 98 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments above a subterranean parking garage. There will be 68 senior units and 30 family units.
Designed by architect Steven Giannetti, the property will also include approximately 590 square feet of onsite supportive services and amenities such as a courtyard, community rooms and fitness center. Larger structures on the footprint, including a clock tower, are to be constructed near Lincoln Boulevard. Buildings then pare down in height to match the scale of single-family homes located to the west and north. Many buildings will be interconnected by pedestrian bridges.
All the Measure HHH funds have been allocated as of October 2019, totaling up to $358.1 million for 2,998 units to be built from the San Fernando Valley to South Los Angeles. The total number of HHH-funded units in the pipeline currently stands at 8,625. The Thatcher Yard Project is just one of the 10 parcels of city-owned property that was set aside for the construction of affordable and permanent supportive housing. This large amount of development provides numerous job opportunities for construction workers throughout Los Angeles.