Santa Monica to Construct $1M Per Unit Apartment Building for Homeless

Santa Monica, California, is preparing to construct an apartment building for the homeless that would cost roughly $1 million per unit.

The apartment building, which will be built in Santa Monica and will be home to “122 apartments” and two levels of underground parking, will cost more than $123 million, according to the website for the City of Santa Monica.

A second design concept on the website found that the project could cost even more, totaling more than $200 million for 196 apartments.

“Moving forward in bringing affordable and permanent supportive housing to city-owned land is a key step in our strategy to fulfill our Housing Element requirement,” Santa Monica Mayor Phil Brock said in a statement. “I look forward to the next steps and ultimately seeing families move into these new homes and thrive.”

The city of Santa Monica has approved a new apartment complex for the homeless that will cost a staggering $1 million per unit. The $123 million project will include just 122 units. It was approved days after an audit found California spent $24 billion to tackle homelessness…

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 23, 2024

Construction on the apartment building would not begin until 2028, with the project estimated to be completed for residents to move in by 2030, according to the city’s website.

Cherry on top: According to the city, construction won't begin until 2028 and move ins aren't expected until 2030.https://t.co/1sOO6sYWHg

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 23, 2024

Santa Monica’s housing project comes days after a report showed that California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) administration lost $24 billion in taxpayer funds since 2018 while the state attempted to address the homelessness crisis.

The report from the auditor of the state of California found several “gaps” in trying to account for how the money used to combat homelessness in the state was distributed between 2018 and 2023.

Grant Parks, the head auditor, said that the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH) had not been “consistently” tracking and evaluating the “State’s efforts to prevent and end homelessness.”