Plans to redevelop a small commercial building in Venice with permanent supportive housing continues to inch forward.

At its meeting on September 15, the Los Angeles City Council voted to approve the Venice Community Housing Corp.'s Lincoln Apartments.  The project, slated for the current home of the non-profit organization Safe Place for Youth, calls for the construction of a four-story edifice featuring 40 apartments for transition-aged youth and chronically homeless persons. 

Long Beach-based architecture firm Studio One Eleven is designing the proposed development, which would include a mix of studio, one-, and two-bedroom dwellings.  The complex - which may be built with prefabricated modular units - would provide a new plaza along Lincoln Boulevard, as well as private yards and an interior courtyard for use by residents.

The roughly $20-million development is funded in part by Measure HHH.

The project has proved contentious in the Venice community, drawing staunch opposition from members of the neighboring St. Mark's parish, who have alleged that Safe Place for Youth's operations have impacted the safety of students at a school operated by the church.

The impasse between the two organizations eventually led to the initiation of an appeal seeking to block the project's construction in June.  However, a representative of the Los Angeles Archdiocese submitted a letter to the City of Los Angeles on September 2 stating that the two parties had reached an agreement on unspecified safety issues, and thus formally withdrew the appeal.

The Lincoln Boulevard development is one of three permanent supportive housing developments which Venice Community Housing currently has in the pipeline for the surrounding neighborhood, including the under construction Rose Avenue Apartments and the proposed Reese Davidson Community.

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