Apartments for Homeless Families Under Construction on Church Lot

After 10 years of planning, construction of Santa Monica’s first housing development for homeless families is finally underway.

The 22-unit Family Place will offer homeless adults with children an apartment until they can find a permanent home. The $2.4-million project in the 1000 block of 12th Street is funded by federal, state, and city money and private grants and donations.

“It’s amazing how many of these people have been laid off from jobs, and it just puts them into a tailspin,” said Valerie Freshwater, executive director of Upward Bound House of Santa Monica, the nonprofit organization overseeing the development.

The idea for the project was conceived in 1986, when leaders of the First United Methodist Church of Santa Monica decided to donate the church parking lot for housing. Later, a church pastor serving on a homeless task force learned that families made up 25% of the city’s homeless population.

“We discovered there were no transitional services for homeless families in Santa Monica,” Freshwater said.

Construction is scheduled for completion in May. Upward Bound also plans to build 70 apartments for senior citizens next to the family housing, with construction set to begin in September. Parking for the congregation will be built under the housing development.