LA Archdiocese, Nonprofit to Build Housing on Church Land

Affordable apartment complexes across the Southland could ultimately be blessed by the Vatican.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has teamed up with an affiliated nonprofit developer, Our Lady Queen of Angels Housing Alliance, to build affordable homes across Southern California, LAist reported.

The Archdiocese, the largest in the U.S. with 288 parishes and 265 schools, has land holdings across Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

The church aims to employ Senate Bill 4, enacted this year, which allows religious groups to fast-track new housing on properties they already own. The archdiocese, led by Archbishop José Gómez, wants to use its land to address the region’s housing shortage.

It’s unclear how much land the Archdiocese intends to put toward housing development. But local Catholic leaders say housing will be a growing part of the church’s charitable mission.

“Through Catholic Charities and our ministries on Skid Row and elsewhere, we have been working for many years to provide shelter and services for our homeless brothers and sisters,” Gomez, who serves on the board for Queen of Angels Housing, said in a statement.

“With this new initiative we see exciting possibilities to make more affordable housing available, especially for families and young people.”

The first project by the Archdiocese and Queen of Angels Housing would create affordable apartments north of Los Angeles City College at 4665 Willow Brook Avenue, in East Hollywood. The 74 units would put community college students and youth transitioning out of foster care on church-owned land now used by Catholic Charities.

The six-story project, known as Willow Brook, would set aside 20 percent of its apartments for youths transitioning out of foster care, with rents between $400 and $500 per month. The remainder will be reserved for low to moderate-income community college students, who also face high risk of homelessness.

The gray, slate blue and white complex will replace St. Mary’s Center, a Catholic Charities site that provides education to unaccompanied minors, which would be relocated.

Queen of Angels Housing will likely submit the Willow Brook project for approval late next month through Mayor Karen Bass’s Executive Order 1, which streamlines approvals for affordable housing projects.

Amy Anderson, executive director for Queen of Angels Housing, said the mission is to confront one of the region’s biggest moral dilemmas head-on.

“We’re losing a generation of people to housing insecurity,” Anderson, who served as L.A.’s chief housing officer under former Mayor Eric Garcetti, told LAist. “It’s very difficult for people to live in health — mental health, physical health — and for them to get ahead when there’s no physical foundation, no home for which to do that.”

The new nonprofit will explore opportunities to build apartments on underused parish parking lots, Anderson said.

As school enrollment declines and membership in religious orders dwindles, Queen of Angels Housing could also redevelop former Catholic schools and convents. The developer, based in Sawtelle and led by Rodrigo Gonzalez, was launched in January last year, according to state business records.

Housing policy experts were encouraged to see the Catholic church use the state’s “Yes In God’s Backyard” law.

“This is a big deal. It shows that religious organizations feel comfortable moving on to the next step,” Muhammad Alameldin, a researcher with UC Berkeley’s Terner Center, told LAist. “The Catholic Church is one of the biggest religious institutions in the country.

“They could really help set the first step to developing more faith-based lands into affordable housing.”

— Dana Bartholomew