By Lookout Staff

March 19, 2024 -- Santa Monica will receive nearly $2 million in federal funding for three community projects under appropriations bills signed into law this month.

The funding is part of a $460 billion package of six annual spending bills approved by Congress and signed by President Biden on March 9.

The funding -- secured by Congressman Ted W. Lieu, whose district includes Santa Monica -- will help rehab a low-income housing project, renovate a services center for homeless programs and add safety enhancements on Lincoln Boulevard.

“Safety and housing are two key issues that are top of mind for so many of my constituents," Lieu said in a statement. The projects, he added, "will make a real difference in our community.”

Nearly half of the secured funding -- $850,000 -- will be used to rehabilitate a low-income housing project in the Pico Neighborhood.

The project will replace all the major building systems, including roofing, plumbing, electrical, heating, ventilation, windows, cabinetry and flooring, according to Lieu's office.

It also will remove lead and asbestos materials, make public and private spaces more accessible for those with disabilities and create a new, large community garden. It also will provide solar panels and electric cooking and heating.

"This project will align with the City’s Climate Action Adaptation Plan and will decarbonize an existing building and create an all-electric, highly environmentally sustainable building," Lieu's office said.

Another $500,000 will help fund the Lincoln Neighborhood Corridor Safety Enhancements, which will add pedestrian lighting, upgraded crosswalks, and other safety features.

The improvements will "dramatically enhance safety for pedestrians, vehicles, and transit riders in the neighborhoods along Lincoln Boulevard," Lieu's office said.

The phase funded is part of a larger project that includes upgraded crosswalks, landscaped medians, pedestrian refuges, pedestrian lighting and bicycle connectors.

An additional $469,100, will fund renovations to two interim housing programs at the Cloverfield Services Center run by the People Concern.

The Center "helps individuals who are traditionally hard-to-reach and sometimes apprehensive about receiving care gain access to shelter, income assistance, workforce development services and affordable housing placement services.

More than 90 percent of the clients served at the Center live with mental illness or co-occurring disorders and approximately half are “struggling to overcome addiction to alcohol and drugs," Lieu's office said.

"The ultimate goal of this project is to better enable the Cloverfield Services Center to find permanent housing for our community's most vulnerable individuals and help them maintain an independent and healthy lifestyle."

The federal funding secured for Santa Monica projects is part of more than $11 million that will fund 14 local projects across Los Angeles County, according to Lieu's office.