On Monday, December 3, 2012, the Coalition for Responsible Community Development (CRCD) and Clifford Beers Housing, Inc. (CBH) opened the 28th Street Apartments in South Los Angeles. Originally the historic 28th Street YMCA designed by renown African-American architect, Paul Williams, the building has been adaptively re-used to provide 48 units of studio-style affordable housing, 1 studio-style manager’s unit, and approximately 8,000 square feet of ground floor space for services. The building provides permanent housing and services for low-income adults, formerly homeless transition age youth (TAY), and adults with mental illness. The ground floor also houses the first Vernon-Central Workforce Development Network – Youth Source Center, where more than 300 TAY living in the Vernon-Central community of South L.A. who are disconnected from the traditional education system will have access to employment, workforce development training, and education resources.
The total development cost for the 28th Street Apartments was $23.7 million. At least eight different funding sources brought the project to fruition. CSH provided a $1.6 million acquisition and predevelopment loan to Clifford Beers Housing and a grant to CRCD under the Stable Homes, Brighter Futures TAY initiative to support the onsite coordination and provision of services for TAY tenants.