New Affordable Housing Breaks Ground in South LA
A new project has broken ground at 5637 S. Broadway, bringing 37 new affordable homes to South Los Angeles. The development marks a small step in addressing the city's ongoing housing crisis.
The new development at 5637 S. Broadway is a 100% affordable project, meaning all 37 units are income-restricted for low-income households, rather than a mix of market-rate and affordable units. The developer, Eleos, is also the operator and has over 1,300 affordable housing units completed, under construction, or in its pipeline across Los Angeles. A $550,000 investment from Health Net was crucial in closing the final funding gap for the project. This is part of Health Net's broader commitment, which has seen $93 million invested in California housing and homelessness initiatives since 2020. For 2026, the managed care provider has planned a $37 million investment, with $31.25 million already allocated to projects that will create at least 900 new affordable units statewide. This project notably utilized Mayor Karen Bass' Executive Directive 1, a streamlined approval process designed to accelerate housing projects. As a result, the South Broadway development received all its entitlements and permits in just nine months, a significant reduction from the typical 18-month or longer cycle for multifamily projects in Los Angeles. The project is also privately financed, avoiding the lengthy processes associated with public subsidies. The need for such projects is stark. In Los Angeles County, there is a shortfall of 485,667 affordable homes for low-income renters. A renter in the county needs to earn 2.9 times the minimum wage to afford the average monthly rent of $2,578. This 37-unit project is a small component of a larger, systemic effort to address the housing crisis. For context, under state law, Los Angeles is required to plan for the construction of over 456,000 new homes between 2021 and 2029, with about 185,000 of those needing to be affordable for low-income residents. The city's 2016 Proposition HHH, a $1.2 billion bond measure, aimed to create 10,000 supportive housing units. As of early 2026, the proposition has funded 132 projects, resulting in 5,597 completed units and another 3,087 in the pipeline. However, the average per-unit cost has risen significantly since the measure was passed.
