Santa Monica has a new housing complex that will aid in making living in the City viable for low-income residents.

A ribbon cutting event was held Saturday, December 1 to officially to welcome The Arroyo, an affordable housing complex located off of Lincoln and Colorado. Mayor Ted Winterer, City Manager Rick Cole and Ted Lieu representative were in attendance at the event.

Tara Barauskas, Executive director of nonprofit affordable housing developer Community Corps of Santa Monica, spoke at the event, noting she and all partners involved were proud of the end result of the building.

“It takes a village,” she said, thanking CCSM’s partners in the process.

The Arroyo, she said, was unique for its modern design and sustainability features that will keep the building “durable for years and good for residents”.

Most unique, she said, was the community effort to construct the Arroyo.

Santa Monica-based architects Koning Eisenberg designed the complex while 500 Broadway, a soon-to-be-developed mixed-use residential project, contributed supplemental financing, partially improved land, project design and required permitting.

Bank of America provided 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits equity of $20 million as well as a $4.7 million construction loan and a $1.1 million permanent loan to the project.

In total, the Arroyo cost around $40 million with zero local city funding, culling other money from the Housing Trust Fund.

“Affordable housing is a concern,” Mayor Ted Winterer said. “Almost half our population has challenges with housing, spending over 30% of their income towards it … There’s no magic solution, but our community is working hard. This is proof.”

The Arroyo, owned and managed by CCSM, offers 64 units of housing for lower-income individuals and families– 29 one-bedroom units, 18 two-bedroom and 17 three-bedroom units.

Rents range from as little as $397 for a one-bedroom unit to $1,225 for a three bedroom unit. All units but one (the manager’s) are reserved for households earning 30%-60% of the city’s average median income.

One woman who has benefitted from the affordability the Arroyo provides is Susana Castellanos, a new resident at the Arroyo.

Castellanos was emotional when taking the podium to detail her experiences at The Arroyo thus far. With a shaking hand holding up a microphone to her shaky voice, she gave thanks.

“I have a privilege to live at this place,” she said. “Thanks to everybody, this is great for me. It’s a beautiful place. You returned to me love and happiness, my confidence … I’m so happy. Thank you for helping us. We are a family now. We can live in a place safe and pretty.”

angel@smdp.com