For more than four decades, Santa Monica residents and voters have supported the preservation and production of affordable housing as a core local value. As market pressures have affected the affordability of housing in Santa Monica, the community has continued to support the urgency and need for more affordable housing. Creating more affordable housing is a key strategy for maintaining economic diversity and affordability in Santa Monica.

On October 11, 2022, the Santa Monica City Council adopted the 2021-2029 Housing Element, a State-mandated plan for meeting the City’s share of regional housing needs. State law requires that the Housing Element include an inventory of sites that demonstrate the City’s capacity to realistically accommodate housing at all income levels. To address the City’s shortfall of sites that are suitable for the creation of housing affordable to lower income households, the City has committed to developing 100% affordable housing on City-owned land, as provided in Housing Element Program 2.E (Attachment A).

The Housing Element identifies the City-owned sites with the highest potential for affordable housing. These include three City public surface parking lots at 1217 Euclid Street, 1211-1217 Fourteenth Street, and 1146 Sixteenth Street. As shown in Housing Element Appendix F, Figure F-7 (Attachment B), these three sites are estimated to accommodate a total of 130 residences. The City seeks creative conceptual proposals from proven development teams to build affordable housing on these sites.

The purpose of this RFP is to evaluate the qualifications, experience and capacity of proposer teams. Staff will evaluate and recommend a development team to the City Council, which will select a development team. The conceptual proposals will illustrate the teams’ qualifications as applied to the three sites, with the final development proposal to be determined by the community outreach process after Council selects a team.

 Housing Objectives for the Development

The affordable housing objectives for the development at 1217 Euclid Street, 1211-1217 Fourteenth Street, and 1146 Sixteenth Street include:

• The sites should collectively accommodate the 130 total homes estimated in the Housing Element for these three sites. If the number of homes projected in the Housing Element is not feasible or optimal for the proposer’s development concept, proposer(s) should explain why and propose an alternative.
• The affordable housing will serve one or more of the groups identified in the Housing Element as having greater difficulty accessing housing in Santa Monica (Attachment C) or that are prioritized in the most recently adopted City Housing Trust Fund Plan (Attachment D). These include Santa Monicans experiencing homelessness, seniors, persons living with disabilities, large families, and small families (including individuals), single-parent households, and households living in poverty.  
• All residences in the proposed developments must serve residents earning no more than 80% of area median income (AMI), subject to long-term income eligibility and affordability covenants.
• All residents must be referred from a City-maintained list of prospective applicants, with a priority for those who live or work in Santa Monica.

The developments should be cost-effective and minimize City Housing Trust Fund investment. The City’s Housing Trust Fund Guidelines are provided as Attachment E.

The Neighborhood

The scattered sites (shown in Attachments F and G) consist of three (3) public surface parking lots located near Wilshire Boulevard between Euclid Avenue and Sixteenth Street, at the convergence of the City’s Wilmont and Mid-City neighborhoods. This segment of Wilshire Boulevard includes the UCLA Health Santa Monica campus and neighborhood-serving commercial uses such as restaurants, cafes, beauty salons, banks, a market, gym, and a post office. There are also retailers such as Vons, Rite Aid, Unleashed by Petco, Ulta Beauty and Target that occupy larger commercial spaces on Wilshire Boulevard. Several commercial properties on Wilshire Boulevard are vacant.  

The areas surrounding Wilshire Boulevard generally feature multifamily developments of four to ten residences, though there are a few developments with more units on larger lots. There are several affordable housing developments in the area, including a 40-unit senior residence building near 10^th Street and Broadway that opened in 2021. An application was submitted in 2022 for a 34-residence 100% affordable development near 19^th Street and Wilshire Boulevard.  Other uses in the neighborhood include Lincoln Middle School and Lincoln Child Development Center.

The commercial uses on Wilshire Boulevard are generally one or two stories, while residential developments in the area are generally two or three stories. Medical buildings associated with UCLA Health, located on Fifteenth and Sixteenth streets, Wilshire and Arizona Avenue, are substantially taller than the other uses in the area.

Street parking is available at metered spaces on Wilshire Boulevard. Metered and unmetered street parking is available on the surrounding streets, subject to time restrictions and/or permit requirements. In addition to the three (3) City parking lots that are the subject of this RFP, off-street parking is provided by surface lots or structures that are accessory to the commercial and residential uses.

Regional roadway access to the area is provided from the Santa Monica Freeway (Interstate 10), located approximately 0.7 miles to the south of the site. Fixed-transit access is provided by the Exposition Light Rail Line, with the 17^th Street/Santa Monica College station less than one mile to the south. Rapid and local bus service in the vicinity is provided by Metro and the Big Blue Bus.

The Sites

Responses to this RFP must include concepts for all three sites to maximize competitiveness for non-City sources of funding, achieve economies of scale in construction, and provide flexibility for locating replacement public parking.  

Site Locations

           1217 Euclid Street (Parking Lot 7)           

The approximately 15,000-square-foot site is located between Wilshire Boulevard and Arizona Avenue. It is accessible via Euclid Street to the west and a midblock alley to the east. The lot contains 49 parking spaces. It is bordered to the north by a 10-space surface lot serving businesses fronting Wilshire Boulevard, as well as by a partially vacant commercial building that formerly housed Performance Bicycle and its parking garage. It is bordered to the south by a 10-residence apartment building.      

1211-1217 Fourteenth Street (Parking Lot 12)  

The approximately 15,000-square-foot site is located between Wilshire Boulevard and Arizona Avenue. It is accessible via Fourteenth Street to the west and a midblock alley to the east. The lot contains 49 parking spaces. It is bordered to the north by a four-space surface parking lot serving businesses fronting Wilshire Boulevard, as well as by a commercial building that houses Unleashed by Petco. It is bordered to the south by a four (4) residence multifamily property. A 52-space paid surface lot for Bank of America and Video and Audio Center customers lies across the alley to the east.      

1146 Sixteenth Street (Parking Lot 8)  

The approximately 7,500-square-foot site is located between Wilshire Boulevard and California Avenue. It is accessible via a midblock alley to the west and Sixteenth Street to the east. The lot contains 21 parking spaces. It is bordered to the north by a duplex and to the south by a restaurant and a partially vacant strip mall with a 9-space surface parking lot.

Planning and Zoning Information

The 2021-2029 Housing Element includes goals and policies to guide the City’s strategy for housing its residents at all income levels. The Housing Element includes programs and policies to implement the following goals:

1. Production of new housing that is sustainable, innovative, safe and resilient, appropriate with the surrounding neighborhood, offers opportunities for active and healthy living, including walking and biking, and increases equitable housing opportunities.

2. Housing production for all income categories including for the community’s workforce and most vulnerable communities.

3. Preservation of the existing supply of housing and prevent displacement of existing tenants.

4. A community that provides equitable housing access to all neighborhoods.

5. Housing for persons experiencing homelessness.

6. Provision of housing assistance and supportive programs and services to extremely low-, very low-, low-, and moderate-income households and households with special needs, families, seniors, and the homeless.

7. Eliminate housing discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, income level, source of income, disability, veteran or military status, genetic information, or other such characteristics.

As provided in the Housing Element, the City has adopted corresponding amendments to the Zoning Ordinance that are required to accommodate the estimated realistic capacity for affordable housing on City-owned sites. The sites’ residential capacity as projected in the Housing Element is shown in the table below. Conceptual proposals must demonstrate how they will accommodate a total of 130 estimated homes for households up to 80% of AMI across the three sites, although deeper affordability levels may be considered. If the number of homes projected in the Housing Element is not feasible, proposer(s) should explain why and propose a feasible alternative.

The developments on City-owned sites will be subject to a ministerial review process and design review. As the sites that are the subject of this RFP are not located within the Coastal Zone, proposed developments will not require a Coastal Development Permit from the California Coastal Commission.

Land Ownership

The City will maintain ownership of the land and offer a long-term ground lease to the developer. The housing created must remain affordable for the longest of a) the length of the ground lease term; b) as long as the site is developed with a residential use; or c) 55 years.

Governing documents

The ground lease will be subject to City Council approval. Depending on the exact nature of the proposed development, it may also be governed by a development review permit, development agreement, or disposition and development agreement.

CEQA

The developments will be subject to a ministerial review process and statutorily exempt from CEQA.

Other Uses

Depending on the populations targeted, additional amenities and services (community room, exercise facility, homework center, etc.) may also be considered. Due to the sites’ location on mostly residential streets, public-serving ground floor commercial uses would not be appropriate to include in conceptual proposals.

Parking

Respondents to this RFP should illustrate approaches that would replace some or all of the public parking in their proposals. Proposals should describe any site, cost, or design constraints that inform the replacement parking proposal. Proposals should also consider the need for residential parking based on the anticipated needs of the priority population.