With Los Angeles’ affordable housing crisis persisting after the recession, city officials gathered last week at a “topping off” ceremony for the Selma Community Workforce Housing Project – a development that will create affordable housing on Cherokee Avenue in Hollywood for employees of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

Robin Hughes, CEO of Abode Communities, Mayor Eric Garcetti, LAUSD president Steve Zimmer and Councilman Mitch O’Farrell celebrated the Selma Avenue project at the topping off ceremony on Aug. 20. (photo by Gregory Cornfield)

Mayor Eric Garcetti, Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, 13th District, and LAUSD board president Steve Zimmer were at the development site for the ceremony. When complete, the development will have 66 affordable homes adjacent to Selma Elementary School.

“Our mayor and Councilmember O’Farrell have made affordable housing priority number one,” Zimmer said. “In times when a lot of folks say government and communities can’t work together, this is a sparkling example of what can happen when the branches of government, together with the school district, together with the nonprofit community, together with the neighborhood, can join forces and, above all, don’t ever give up, because this is a long time coming.”

LAUSD started the project to improve access to affordable housing and employee retention for LAUSD employees and staff who want to live near where they work but can’t afford to pay for housing costs, and to “alleviate the affordable housing crisis in Southern California,” according to a project analysis provided by the school district.

“These are our maintenance workers, teaching assistants, bus drivers, nursing assistants,” Garcetti said. “These are folks who make sure our kids have healthy meals to eat, who make sure our kids are cared for when they go to school. But too often, they can’t afford to live in the city they serve.”

Abode Communities will prioritize leasing to working-wage LAUSD employees who fall into a designated economic category in at least 50 percent of the units.

“This unique project is a model for the rest of the city,” Zimmer said.

The California Housing Partnership released a report earlier this year that determined statewide the lowest-income households spend two out of three dollars of income on housing.

“The housing crisis has never stopped, let’s be honest,” Garcetti said.

According to LAUSD, the annual median rent in Los Angeles has gone up by 21 percent statewide since 2000, while the typical renter’s income has dropped by 8 percent.

“We have the biggest gap between wages and rents in L.A. County here,” Garcetti said. “What we see [in the Selma development] is something that shows we can break down the barriers – whether they’re bureaucratic, geographic, economic – to build what is right for the city.”

O’Farrell said 50 percent of renters in Los Angeles are “rent-burdened,” which means over 50 percent of their income goes to basic rent.

“Los Angeles is the least affordable city to live in,” O’Farrell added. “That means less money for healthy food, or school supplies for their children, or all the things families need to thrive, or just to survive, in the city.”

Construction on the $32.9 million project began last December and is expected to be complete by next school year. The development will provide 67 residential parking spaces and 50 commercial parking spaces that serve Selma Avenue Elementary by day and the public at night, which can bring additional revenue to the city. The development will offer residents amenities, such as a computer lab, resident services programs, a central courtyard and rooftop courtyard.

The project is the second of three planned LAUSD workforce housing projects, all of which were approved by the Los Angeles Board of Education. Last month, LAUSD celebrated the grand opening of Sage Park Apartments on the north side of the Gardena Senior High School campus. The third is located near the University of Southern California.

O’Farrell shared a history lesson about the area as well.

He said in 1887, Harvey Wilcox bought most of what is Hollywood today when it was mostly farmland. He decided to divide the land into residential lots and also named the town and streets. Two young children of a local farmer crossed his property twice every day on their way to school and one of the children was named Selma.