Officials in a popular city in Los Angeles County are adding to statewide housing development efforts by giving the green light to its largest affordable apartment project.
Culver City approved plans for a 95-unit apartment project that will be entirely dedicated to lower-income residents and to individuals experiencing homelessness, representing the largest project of its kind in the city that's home to notable tech and media firms as well as higher-income renters when compared to greater Los Angeles.
Developer Community Corporation of Santa Monica is behind the project, called Jubilo Village, at 4464 Sepulveda Blvd., a site owned by Culver-Palms United Methodist Church. The church will get a new worship facility next door in exchange for opening its property up for development, according to the proposal.
The $66.5 million project is one of several underway across Los Angeles taking advantage of California laws fast-tracking affordable housing development. Jubilo was entitled in 2022 under SB 35, a law cutting red tape for affordable developments in cities without significant low-income housing. A more recent law introduced in January 2024 — called SB4 — allows for the fast-tracking of affordable housing projects on land owned by religious institutions and in single-family neighborhoods.
"Given the structural shortage the market is facing, this is a promising next step for Culver City," said Ryan Patap, senior director of market analytics for Los Angeles at CoStar.
Los Angeles is under pressure from California to build 450,000 new housing units by 2029, half of them to be earmarked as affordable — or discounted rents reserved for individuals earning between 30% and 60% of the area median income — as part of statewide efforts to boost inventory and ease cost concerns. Culver City is on the hook for 3,341 total units.
Pressing housing goals
Jubilo Village is slated to be Culver City’s largest 100% affordable housing project and its first to open in more than 10 years since the completion of Tilden Terrace on Washington Boulevard in 2013, according to officials.
Funding for Jubilo Village will come from a mix of nonprofit and government funds including a $23 million grant from the California Department of Housing and Community Development to cover 43 of the units that will be reserved for people transitioning out of homelessness. The other 50 units will be reserved as general affordable housing, typically for renters earning less than 50% of the area median income.
Culver City's multifamily market is currently 5.4% vacant with asking rents of $2,859, above the LA average of $2,306 and the national average of $1,736.
The project will include property and case management offices, a community room and kitchen, bicycle storage, a children’s play area and a garden. The developer will provide on-site property management services and work with a local emergency shelter for homeless children and their families to provide services to residents in need.
The church will retain ownership of the land underneath the property with Community Corporation of Santa Monica leasing and manage the 43,000-square-foot residential portion. Meanwhile, the church will use money from the lease to build a 19,000-square-foot worship facility and preschool adjacent to the complex. The developers expect the project to take two years to complete.
Elsewhere in Los Angeles, other religious organizations are offering up their properties to help speed affordable housing development. Community Corporation of Santa Monica is also working with The Jewish congregation IKAR to redevelop a property in Hollywood into affordable housing.
The Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese has launched a nonprofit called Our Lady Queen of Angels Housing Alliance to develop affordable housing on church properties across the city.