On April 26, Community Corporation of Santa Monica broke ground on the city’s latest 100% affordable housing development, titled Berkeley Station, located at 1342 Berkeley Street. Consisting of 13 one-bedroom apartments and using a modular form of construction, the partnership between Community Corporation and city officials aims to support transition-age youth.
Community Corporation had the property purchased years ago, primarily for parking lot use for the adjacent Big Berkeley affordable housing project. The nonprofit believed it could be "synergistic" to undertake a smaller project next to Big Berkeley that "would still kind of fit in with the neighborhood [but] not be too overwhelming," said Executive Director Tara Barauskas.
She added that including transition-age youth from 18 to 24 years old as a project focus "made a lot of sense" next to the more family-focused Big Berkeley. The project, she noted, also has a "good alignment" with the City’s YRT youth assistance program, as affordable housing has been cited as a major need for the group.
"Traditionally, we’ve served low-income families for the last 41 years, but we’ve never really addressed at-risk youth, and I sort of had the idea because I’m a mother and I thought [that] we really need to pay more attention to making sure [they] get all the support they need, especially when they get off track," Barauskas said.
While "transition-age youth" doesn’t necessarily mean children exiting the foster care system, many of the potential applicants will be of the distinction, along with youth struggling with crises like domestic violence or family challenges.
"When [youth are] in foster care, they have all the resources and support they need, but [when they’re] basically 18, you’re out the door, and there really isn’t a next step for them many times … foster kids aging out of the system [could] end up falling into homelessness, because they don’t have a support network," Barauskas added.
Gaining a City-issued loan for the project, Community Corporation sought local aid for construction, specifically the first of the organization’s projects to be done modularly. Modular construction is the process of having apartments built off site in a factory before being moved by truck and craned onto the work site.
Community Corporation found partners in Plant Prefab and architectural firm Brooks + Scarpa for Berkeley Station, with the project to be built at Plant Prefab’s Tejon Ranch location.
"We are extremely excited to work with Community Corporation of Santa Monica on their first prefabricated development," Plant Prefab Founder and CEO Steve Glenn said. "Berkeley Station will be built at our new factory in Tejon Ranch utilizing techniques that offer a more sustainable and time and cost-efficient way to create affordable, temporary and transitional housing."
Berkeley Station’s design will meet LEED Gold standards, include solar panels and Energy Star appliances, and will give residents amenities like a community garden, laundry facilities, a rooftop deck and a community room. The project is slated to be completed by mid-2025, with the timeline hampered by a longer lead time for a Switchgear part manufactured in Ukraine. However, modular construction allows for work to be done on-site simultaneously to the factory work.
At the site, the groundbreaking was attended by community leaders and elected officials such as Santa Monica Mayor Phil Brock, California State Senator Ben Allen, a representative of Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur and several members of City Council.
Allen noted that Berkeley Station "is a model of the type of affordable housing we need to be building across California," something Brock agreed with.
"Santa Monica continues to be a leader in finding innovative, sustainable and compassionate ways to address the homelessness and housing crisis," Brock said. "It is so important that our transition-age youth and low-income families have a safe and stable place to live, and Berkeley Station will provide these households with that secure foundation so they can thrive."
