Affordable housing projects in Inglewood have stalled for years

By: Emilie St. John

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a $297 billion budget on Jan. 10 which focuses on prioritizing money to address homelessness. 

The proposed budget is set to go into effect July 1 with Newsom wanting local cities to take a more drastic approach to reduce homelessness and address the lack of housing being built.

The budget proposal includes $3.4 billion for homelessness, with $400 million to clean up tent encampments and $1 billion for cities and counties to reduce the number of people living outdoors.

“The housing crisis we are experiencing in California was decades in the making, but we are taking aggressive steps with an all-of-the-above approach, which includes unprecedented actions to bring about accountability at the local level,” said Governor Newsom last November after creating the Housing Accountability Unit.  “Understanding that we have no time to waste, in just one year, the Housing Accountability Unit has moved with a fierce intensity to break the status quo and remove bureaucratic roadblocks.”

Locally, Inglewood continues to approve affordable housing projects that remain in limbo going back to 2009.

The city council took steps to inch closer to developing Prairie Station which is slated to have 440 rental units at the intersection of Imperial Hwy and Prairie Ave. on land previously owned by the City’s Successor Agency. 

The first approvals on the project date back to 2018.

The project stalled after it was challenged by the Uplift Inglewood coalition which wanted to ensure there was an adequate amount of affordable housing units set aside for the city’s most vulnerable.

A settlement was reached with the developer, Prairie Station Holdings LLC agreeing to set aside 60 units as affordable.  

The council met on Dec. 20 to adopt an Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration which detailed the number of affordable housing units was reduced to 40.

No reason was given as to why.

Construction is expected to occur over a 27-month period, beginning as early as January 2024 and concluding by Spring 2026.

In 2009, the Inglewood RDA entered into an owner participation agreement with the Hollywood Park Land Company (HPLC) which included nearly $40 million in redevelopment funds that were pledged to build affordable housing on the Hollywood Park project site, however, those plans were scrapped when the City approved the NFL stadium. 

Mayor Butts was asked what happened to the tax credits pledged towards affordable housing he said they didn’t exist.

“I was not here and am uncertain regarding Hollywood Park, but imagine what you’re referring to is for the old Hollywood Park Project, not the current one,” said Butts. “The Redevelopment Agency and Tax Increment financing did not exist when SoFi Stadium and the new Hollywood Park Tomorrow became a project.”

“I was not on the City Council for the discussion or decisions on affordable housing,” said Butts.

During the Feb. 24, 2015 city council meeting, when the stadium initiative was approved, the developer stated the City didn’t want affordable housing included, only market rate.

After the state eliminated redevelopment agencies local cities scrambled to complete projects already in the works.  The newly created Successor Agency would work in tandem with the Housing Authority to build out the city’s affordable housing needs.  

“Nobody was anticipating it, and it created a lot of problems,” said Margarita Cruz, former Redevelopment Manager for the City of Inglewood Successor Agency. The role of the Successor Agency, according to Cruz, is to “unwind” development projects and complete contracts which existed prior to June 2011, including both The Forum and the Hollywood Park Tomorrow project.

On July 26, 2016, the Inglewood Successor Agency sold five parcels in Downtown Inglewood to another affordable housing developer who pledged to develop 235 housing units, of which 47 may be classified as affordable, 95,000 sq ft of retail, parking, and streetscape improvements.

The project was due to break ground in the 1st quarter of 2017 and was scheduled to be completed by 1st quarter of 2019. The remaining properties would be developed by end of 2019.

As of today, the properties remain untouched. 

These parcels are all located along the path of the proposed Inglewood Transit Connector that the city has yet to fully fund.

In Feb. 2018, the City had to pass a resolution requesting an extension from the state for the development of other affordable housing projects associated with the same developer.

The four sites are located at 8244 Crenshaw Dr, 8205 Crenshaw Blvd., and 716 and 720 W. Beach Blvd. which were all slated for affordable housing projects.

The Crenshaw Blvd. location is vacant and the former site of a gas station. 

The parcels on Beach Blvd. were used as affordable housing for Section 8 participants.  After the City entered into the development agreement with Thomas Safran & Associates the home was razed and development commenced on Beach Terrace, a 42-unit housing complex.

Nearly a decade later, the Crenshaw Blvd. location remains undeveloped.

Both developers, Hollywood Park Land Co. and Thomas Safran have been consistent campaign donors to Mayor Butts.

The 2018 resolution that was submitted to the state, detailed that the development of some of the parcels was not complete and the City was therefore requesting a five-year extension from the Department of Finance to finish the work.

The staff report noted, “…pursuant to HSC Section 33334.16 activities to develop properties acquired by the Agency for affordable housing must be initiated within five (5) years from the date of acquisition; otherwise, the property must be sold and the proceeds returned to the Successor Agency’s Low and Moderate Income Housing Asset Fund.”

“The Housing Authority fully expects to develop the properties within the five (5) year extension and add to the City’s exemplary record of addressing affordable housing…”

“The authority desires to retain the properties for a period of up to an additional five years to begin the physical development of low and moderate-income housing.”

The extension was granted and expires next month.

Asm. Tina McKinnor, who represents Inglewood, made her first act in office to pass legislation related to affordable housing.

Assembly Bill 1743 was part of a 38-bill housing package signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom designed to increase housing production, expand housing financing and help millions of Californians access safe, affordable housing. 

The bill asks local governments a very simple, but important question – after all the work of this legislature, the governor and our local governments over the past several years to address the housing crisis, how much housing was actually produced?

“We can solve California’s housing crisis through partnerships between government, developers, non-profit and faith-based organizations,” said Assemblymember Tina McKinnor. “By harnessing the innovative will of Californians, necessary public and private investments and a legislature and governor truly committed to solving the housing crisis, I am confident that we can help all Californians find a safe and affordable place to call home. AB 1743 will give the public and policy makers an important metric necessary to guide our efforts to expand housing opportunities to all Californians in the future.” 

Mayor Butts was asked about the status of the multiple affordable housing projects approved in the last seven years that have not broken ground and he declined to comment.