Officials, Residents Help Open Low-Income Complex

At what was once a blighted collection of boarded-up apartment buildings, officials and residents of a new affordable-housing complex gathered to celebrate the project’s completion.

The nonprofit Venice Community Housing Corp. built 23 housing units at Washington Place and Frances Avenue, said Steve Clare, the organization’s executive director, after razing five of six dilapidated buildings on the site.

Seven of the former units were renovated, resulting in 30 apartments with rents ranging from $269 a month for studios to $768 for a four-bedroom unit.

The units are reserved for people earning less than 60% of the median income for the Los Angeles area.

The complex, called Washington Courts, was built with the help of the Los Angeles Housing Department, Bank of America Community Development Bank, the California Equity Fund and the Local Initiative Support Corp., Clare said.