10 Years of Change
Honoring our Past…
Jordan Downs was originally built in the 1940s as housing during World War II. It was then converted to public housing in the 1950s. By the late 1990s, the aging buildings were suffering from significant capital investment needs. As a result, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) launched a planning effort for the redevelopment of Jordan Downs in the late 2000s. A Specific Plan was adopted by the City of Los Angeles in 2013, and in 2018, HACLA was awarded a $30 million Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) grant from HUD to support new housing development as well as investments in services and economic development for residents of the community.
Video courtesy of Bank of America.
Saul Gonzalez, KCRW
Jacob Woocher, Knock LA
Saul Gonzalez, KCRW
…And Building Our Future
In 2008, HACLA, in collaboration with residents and stakeholders, initiated a plan to rebuild Jordan Downs into a mixed-use, mixed-income community.
HACLA, with development partners The Michaels Organization and BRIDGE Housing, is transforming the Jordan Downs community into a vibrant urban village designed to reshape the surrounding Watts neighborhood and provide programs and services to improve the lives of current and future generations.
When fully completed, the revitalized Jordan Downs neighborhood will offer over 1,500 new affordable and market-rate housing units in addition to all new roads and infrastructure, including the new Century Boulevard. The redeveloped community will also include a neighborhood retail center, ground-floor commercial and amenity spaces, a large community center, and nine acres of new parks throughout the center of the community, in addition to job opportunities for residents and childcare options.
The long-term, public-private redevelopment effort sets a new precedent for public housing across the entire country.
