South LA Affordable Housing Project Breaks Ground On Site With Racist Past

Developers have launched a new affordable housing project in South Los Angeles that will include 122 new apartments for low-income renters.

The Manchester Urban Homes development, which broke ground Friday, aims to chip away at the region’s massive shortage of affordable homes — and to do it on land that historically excluded Black and Asian people.

The deed for the large, dusty lot near the intersection of South Broadway and W. 87th Place came with a racially restrictive covenant. The clause — written in 1906 but made illegal under a 1948 U.S. Supreme Court decision banning racial covenants — states the property “shall not be rented, sold or conveyed or occupied by any person of the African or the Mongolian race.”

Lori Gay, CEO of Neighborhood Housing Services of L.A. County, said the housing nonprofit discovered the ugly history shortly after buying the property in 2014.

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“There was this kind of diabolical goal of exclusion,” Gay said. Now, she’s looking forward to seeing a diverse group of tenants move in once construction is finished in about two years.

“We're transforming the space, and putting it back into affordable use to house people so they feel safe and secure,” Gay said. “We're saying everybody's welcome.”

Racially restrictive language is highlighted in the deed for a property in South L.A. that will soon be home to a new affordable housing development. (Courtesy of Neighborhood Housing Services of L.A. County)

L.A. has a long history with racial covenants

Racial covenants were common in L.A. property deeds 100 years ago. For decades, these clauses prevented people from buying homes in much of L.A. County (and in other cities across the country) based on their race.

UCLA history professor Eric Avila said in L.A. County, these covenants “were used heavily in the early 20th century with the intensive suburban development that began in the 1920s.”

Along with federal policies such as redlining and exclusionary homeowners associations, racial covenants were a tactic used by white homeowners to maintain segregation and preserve property values. Avila said those policies continue to shape L.A.’s geography.

“They essentially created these walls that prevented Black, Brown and Asian people from purchasing property in white neighborhoods,” Avila said. “It's the lasting effects, or the legacy of these policies, that we live with today.”

Though racial covenants were eventually outlawed, they were never wiped off the books. They continue to exist today, deep in the fine print of many L.A. property deeds. California passed a law in 2021 to streamline the process of removing racial covenants from property deeds.

Project has been in the works for nearly a decade

Like many affordable housing developments in L.A., the Manchester Urban Homes project has taken years to break ground.

Neighborhood Housing Services bought the land in 2014 with the idea of developing a mixed-use site with both housing and ground floor retail space. But those plans fell through, and the organization partnered with the affordable housing developer Abode Communities to create plans for an affordable housing project instead.

The development’s 122 apartments will be set aside for households earning between 30% and 60% of L.A.’s median income. Single people earning as little as about $26,000 per year will be eligible to move in, as well as families of four earning up to about $76,000.

Depending on the number of family members, the household’s income and the size of their apartment, tenants will pay rents between $672 for a one-bedroom up to $1,908 for a three-bedroom.

Holly Benson, CEO of Abode Communities, said when working families search for three-bedroom apartments in L.A. these days, “You’re probably talking a minimum $4,000 a month.” The rents at Manchester Urban Homes, she said, will be “remarkably less than what the market is charging.”

A shovel stands in dirt at the site of an affordable housing development in South L.A.

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David Wagner

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LAist

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At the groundbreaking ceremony, L.A. City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson said the project is bringing much-needed two- and three-bedroom apartments to his district.

“Homelessness and the struggle for housing affects all kinds of people, including people who have families,” Harris-Dawson said. “We want to remove this notion that when someone has a large family, they’re the most difficult people to house.”

The development is relying on $84 million in funding cobbled together from a variety of government, private and non-profit sources. The years-long financing is emblematic of how difficult and slow the affordable housing development process continues to be.

Under state law, the city of Los Angeles must plan for nearly 185,000 new units of low-income housing by late 2029. But the city is far behind in reaching that goal. According to the planning department’s most recent progress report, only about 5,354 have been built since 2021.