LOS ANGELES - Today, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA), the nation’s second-largest housing authority, closed on a partnership with Ethos Real Estate to purchase the Residences at Woodlake, a 276-unit apartment community in the Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles for $76,025,000. Northmarq (Mike Smith, Vince Norris, Jim Fisher and Bryan Schellinger) served as the listing team.

Under the deal, HACLA, through its nonprofit arm La Cienega LOMOD, Inc., together with Ethos, have placed a deed restriction on the property to ensure that the majority of the units remain affordable for decades to come. Under the restriction, half of the units will be restricted to families earning up to 80% of the median income (AMI) for Los Angeles, and 10 percent will be restricted to families earning up to 60% of AMI. The restrictions will stay in place for 55 years. All units at the property will remain subject to Los Angeles’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, and the property will welcome residents holding tenant-based Section 8 vouchers.

The project will benefit from California’s statutory exemption from property taxes for the affordable units, which allowed the partnership to achieve a competitive price for the property and simultaneously ensure that it remains a critical source of affordable housing in the community. HACLA also made a loan to support the acquisition. Additional financing came from cash equity contributed by Ethos and La Cienega LOMOD.

“We are extremely grateful to HACLA for their willingness to partner with us on addressing Los Angeles’ affordable housing shortage with a new approach,” said Jennifer McElyea, Ethos Real Estate Managing Partner. “We are all aware of the limited public funding sources available for affordable housing production and are excited about the scale application that this public private partnership model presents. It’s a testimony to HACLA’s nimbleness, creativity and diligence, that this transaction was able to come to fruition.”

Residences at Woodlake was previously entirely market rate, with no affordability restrictions. With increased access to amenities, employment, retail centers, and new investments in transit infrastructure, the surrounding neighborhood has begun to experience pressures for rising rents, which threatens to displace low-income working families from the community they have called home. This partnership has prepared a plan to invest in capital improvements at the property over time and will prioritize hiring local residents for new positions created by the work.

The transaction completes the second property purchase by a HACLA entity through HACLA’s Innovative Partnerships Solicitation, which launched in 2021. In August of this year, HACLA, through La Cienega LOMOD, entered a partnership to purchase the 669-unit Baldwin Village Apartments, also located in the Crenshaw neighborhood. HACLA is committed to preserving, enhancing, and expanding deeply affordable housing and improving the quality of life for Angelenos with a focus on People, Place, and Pathways to Opportunity and always welcomes additional partnership proposals to create and preserve more critical affordable housing together through its partnerships solicitation.

“With this transaction, HACLA has partnered to purchase nearly 1,000 housing units just this year, with more than 500 now becoming affordable housing for decades to come,” said HACLA President & CEO Doug Guthrie. “HACLA is deeply proud to be able to work with dedicated and mission-aligned partners to address Los Angeles’s critical shortage of affordable housing and we look forward to continuing this important work in the new year and beyond.”

About HACLA
The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) was established in 1938 by City of Los Angeles Resolution No. 1241. HACLA is one of the nation’s largest and leading public housing authorities, providing the largest supply of quality affordable housing to residents of the City of Los Angeles. HACLA provides affordable housing to over 83,000 households in its Public Housing and Section 8 departments, and offers a range of permanent supportive housing programs for homeless households, including: Project-Based, HUD – Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing, Homeless, Tenant Based Supportive Housing, Housing Opportunities for Persons with Aids (HOPWA), Continuum of Care and Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy program. For more information, visit www.hacla.org.

About Ethos Real Estate

Ethos Real Estate was conceived to address the critical housing shortage with a new approach. With a collective track record in real estate investment banking, private equity, development and partnership with the public sector, the principals of Ethos successfully established new investment structures that leverage private capital for the production of housing at all income levels. As a result, Ethos has become a trusted partner to public agencies and communities seeking to address their housing needs, with a mission to create positive change and a new narrative for residents, communities and the housing system. For more information, visit: www.ethos-re.com.

Contact:

Eric Brown, Director, Intergovernmental & Media Relations

213-252-1871

Eric.Brown@hacla.org

Courtney Gladney, Media & Marketing Specialist

213-252-1272

Courtney.Gladney@hacla.org

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