The Los Angeles Unified School District Provides Employee Housing in Sage Park Apartments

The Los Angeles Unified School District Provides Employee Housing in Sage Park Apartments

In 2015, Sage Park Apartments opened to provide 90 units of affordable housing on the Gardena High School Campus, the first affordable housing project on district-owned land to give priority to district employees. Credit: Nico Marques, courtesy of BRIDGE Housing

The Los Angeles Business Council’s 2008 report, “Workforce Housing Scorecard for Los Angeles,” highlighted the negative effects of the region’s shortage of affordable housing. The report noted that education, childcare, public safety, and health-care workers were experiencing particular difficulty in finding affordable options for ownership and rental housing. Among low-income households — those earning less than 80 percent of the area median income — a higher percentage are cost burdened (paying more than 30 percent of income toward housing costs) in Los Angeles County than in the nation as a whole. To address the need for more affordable housing options for LAUSD staff while making use of excess land, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) adopted the Workforce Housing Initiative, which allows the district to develop its land with workforce housing and amenities for schools and the larger community. As part of this policy, LAUSD determined that 3.5 acres of largely vacant land in the northern part of the Gardena High School campus were not needed for educational uses.

Affordable Residential Units and Community Amenities

In 2009, LAUSD selected nonprofit developer BRIDGE Housing to build an affordable multifamily rental building and community amenities on the excess land. In April 2015 Sage Park Apartments opened with 90 units of affordable rental housing in 4 two- and three-story buildings. The rental units are composed of 29 one-bedroom, 31 two-bedroom, and 30 three-bedroom units. One of the units is reserved for the building manager, 9 are affordable to households earning up to 30 percent of AMI, 18 are affordable to those earning up to 40 percent of AMI, 36 are affordable to those earning up to 50 percent of AMI, and the remaining 26 units are affordable to those earning up to 60 percent of AMI. Six units are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and are reserved for persons with disabilities. Sage Park Apartments includes a common room, fitness center, laundry facilities, computer lab, landscaped courtyards, and a playground for residents.

Sage Park Apartments was the first affordable development built on LAUSD-owned land that helped to meet the goal of LAUSD’s Workforce Housing Initiative: to attract and retain staff by giving LAUSD staff members preference for the affordable housing units. To provide preference to district staff members, LAUSD needed to meet the guidelines of the city of Los Angeles’ consolidated plan and comply with federal fair housing regulations by showing that it had a sufficient number of employees and that they were demographically representative of the area’s population, according to Anna Slaby, senior project manager at BRIDGE Housing. LAUSD staff who work within three miles of Sage Park Apartments leased all the affordable units except for the manager’s unit and the ADA-compliant units.

Adjacent to the residential portion of the site are community amenities, including 16,500 square feet of patio and garden areas and a 2,900-square-foot multipurpose center that is available for use by residents and school staff. The center includes storage and exhibition space for California Impressionist art pieces collected by Gardena High School graduating classes between 1919 and 1956. The property also includes a facility used for the Los Angeles Police Department’s Juvenile Impact program, which teaches leadership, academic, and other life skills to youth who are first-time offenders. The facility includes a 1,800-square-foot building and an outdoor obstacle course.

Financing

Sage Park Apartments offers a common room, fitness center, laundry facilities, computer lab, landscaped courtyards, and a playground. Credit: The Los Angeles Unified School District

Funding for the $28 million development, including both the residential and community facilities, came from various sources. Bank of America Merrill Lynch provided roughly $20 million in equity in exchange for 9 percent low-income housing tax credits allocated by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee. The California Community Reinvestment Corporation and the Los Angeles Housing Department each provided $3.5 million. The Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta’s Affordable Housing Program provided the remainder of the financing. To improve the project’s feasibility, the school district provided a 66-year ground lease at less than the market rate.

A Mutually Beneficial Method of Providing Affordable Housing

Al Grazioli, LAUSD facilities asset development director notes that roughly 44 LAUSD-employees submitted applications for each Sage Park unit. In response to the high demand for affordable housing among LAUSD staff, LAUSD has continued its Workforce Housing Initiative. LAUSD leased land at Selma Elementary School to Abode Communities to develop 66 apartments, which were completed in June 2016, and LAUSD staff have priority for half of those units. LAUSD staff will also be given priority for all 29 housing units that Thomas Safran & Associates will develop on land leased at Norwood Elementary School’s campus. According to Grazioli, LAUSD chief facilities executive Mark Hovatter, and LAUSD director of facilities planning and development Krisztina Tokes, these projects have proven to be mutually beneficial. The school district makes more efficient use of land that it owns; affordable housing developers can use land with a below-market-rate lease; LAUSD staff can find affordable housing near their jobs; and the community gains new amenities. Because of these benefits, Grazioli, Hovatter, and Tokes note that many other school districts are interested in implementing similar programs. In recognition of its successful provision of affordable housing and community amenities, Sage Park received Affordable Housing Finance magazine’s 2015 Readers’ Choice Award in the Family category.