South Los Angeles receives $35M for more affordable housing

California awarded $35 million to fund affordable housing and recreational parks in South Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood, the latest effort to improve the long-struggling area.

A portion of the funding will go toward redeveloping the Jordan Downs public housing project at 9800 South Grape Street, Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement announcing the funds.

Roughly 115 new apartments are already being built as part of the first phase of redevelopment. That has a scheduled completion date of late 2018. The second phase, which the mayor recommended to the LA Housing Community Investment Department in October, will begin late spring.

Once completed, a mixed-income “urban village” with up to 1,400 units, recreational centers, nine acres of green space and 165,000 square feet of retail will rise on the once-contaminated site. 

It is unclear how much money will go toward the redevelopment.

Federal Cap-and-Trade money will be used to pay for energy-efficient retrofits, solar panel installations, new parks, food waste prevention program and 10 new electric buses.