Updates on the Venice Dell Community: Finding a way forward.
Background
The Venice Dell Community is an affordable housing project that aims to provide 120 units and small-scale mixed-use retail space at 200 N. Venice Blvd. on a city-owned, 196-space public parking lot. The new development would provide 100% deed-restricted affordable apartment homes, while maintaining public beach parking spaces within a new parking garage. It would also maintain access to the Grand Canal public boat launch, as well as ADA-accessible pedestrian access. The site is owned by the City of Los Angeles, and Venice Community Housing (VCH) and Hollywood Community Housing Corporation (HCHC) were selected as co-developers through a competitive process initiated by the City in 2016.
Venice Community Housing applied our community-led design practice in conceptualizing and developing the project plan, hosting over 100 community engagement events. More than 2,000 letters of support for the project have been submitted to the City, including more than 530 from Venice residents. The Venice Dell Community was approved by the Los Angeles City Council in December 2021 and in June 2022.
City Obstruction
Our Disposition and Development Agreement requires the City to issue project approvals promptly; however, the City has repeatedly defaulted on its obligations, directing staff to stop working on the Venice Dell Community housing project and erroneously citing a December 2024 Board of Transportation Commission (BOTC) decision to deny progress.
Legal Action Taken
In March of this year, VCH and HCHC filed a writ in the LA County Superior Court alleging abuse of discretion by the City Board of Transportation Commissioners. In May, a Notice of Default was also delivered to the City of Los Angeles under the Disposition and Development Agreement between the City and the Venice Dell L.P. The complaint detailed costs spanning nine years of good-faith efforts by VCH and HCHC.
The City responded with its own Notice of Default, claiming that VCH had not moved the project forward but failing to mention that these delays were caused by obstruction from City officials. The City has backed us into a corner, and we feel we have no choice but to sue to demand that the City move VDC forward and/or pay damages exceeding $10 million. The lawsuit against the City was filed jointly by VCH and HCHC on July 9, 2025.
The Path Forward
Our ideal outcome is for the City to move the Venice Dell Community forward, so we can provide much-needed affordable housing to our vulnerable neighbors. Short of that, VCH is seeking to recover our investment after having put significant resources behind a project initiated by the City.
Venice Community Housing is a nonprofit affordable housing developer, and we take pride in managing our finances with rigor and integrity. But barriers that may be absorbable for profit-driven developers with substantial capital and market-rate rent revenues are neither appropriate nor sustainable for mission-based organizations like ours. The project is financed by a loan that was sound under a reasonable timeline, but the City’s delays have rendered it increasingly burdensome.
Thank You
Venice Community Housing is grateful for the support of the hundreds of community members who have stepped forward in support of this project and our collective desire for affordable housing in Los Angeles. We are committed to transparency and intend to keep you informed about Venice Dell Community as the situation evolves. As ever, we will act in partnership with community during these unprecedented times, and we thank you for your enduring commitment to housing justice.
