LAUSD Advances 391-Unit Workforce Housing Project in Woodland Hills

LOS ANGELES — The largest school district in the West is becoming a housing developer — with somebody else's money. The Los Angeles Unified school board voted Tuesday to select Affirmed Housing Group and HA Builders to pursue a 391-unit workforce housing project on the former Collins Street Elementary School site in Woodland Hills, moving the district's biggest employee-housing bet yet into exclusive negotiations.

The team was the highest-ranked proposer for the Collins site after an evaluation by an LAUSD employee selection panel, with advisory support from housing subject-matter experts, according to the district. But officials were careful about what Tuesday's vote did and didn't do: it does not constitute final approval. The exclusive negotiating period will cover due diligence, more community engagement, design work and deal terms — and a proposed development agreement and ground lease comes back to the board, which the district hopes to do by summer 2027.

The proposal itself is substantial. It calls for 391 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments on the 6.56-acre district-owned property at 5717 N. Rudnick Ave., along with about 550 parking spaces. Amenities would include outdoor play areas, a community room, a fitness center, a walking path, a swimming pool, and a daycare that could be operated by a third party, according to Issam Dahdul, LAUSD's director of Facilities Planning and Development. The current concept reaches five stories along Shoup Avenue and steps down to three stories along Miranda and Rudnick Avenues.

Who gets to live there is spelled out in unusual detail. The apartments would carry a leasing preference for LAUSD employees and serve households earning between 30% and 120% of Los Angeles County's area median income — a band the district says could encompass everyone from teachers and nurses to administrative assistants, aides, custodians and food-service workers. Of the 391 units, officials said 147 would be one-bedrooms, 155 two-bedrooms and 89 three-bedrooms, including three units for on-site property staff. The income targeting: 40 units at 30% of AMI, 78 at 50%, 92 at 60%, 99 at 80%, and 79 between 90% and 120%.

For context, the district's presentation showed that 30% of area median income works out to $34,980 for a one-person household and $49,980 for a four-person household; at 120%, the figures rise to $139,900 and $199,920, per 2026 maximum income levels published by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee. Rents haven't been set yet, but officials said they would generally be structured so households don't spend more than roughly 30% of their income on housing. And in a notable detail: an employee who moved in would not have to move out if they later left LAUSD, as long as they still met the development's income requirements.

The need case comes from the district's own workforce. In a 2024 district survey of nearly 12,000 employees, more than 6,000 — 52% — expressed interest in LAUSD affordable housing. The greatest share of employee housing need sat among workers at 30% to 80% of AMI, and demand was highest in the district's North and West regions — exactly where Woodland Hills sits.

The financing is the part that makes this politically possible. The project would be financed by the developer through Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and other California public subsidy sources, with no financial contribution required from LAUSD. The district keeps ownership of the land; the developer operates, manages and maintains the housing. Under the proposal, the developer pays LAUSD roughly $150,000 in ground-lease deposits during predevelopment and construction, followed by annual ground-lease payments starting at $250,000 and increasing 2.5% a year.

The timeline is long: construction anticipated in summer 2029, completion in summer 2031, all still subject to negotiation. The site itself has been waiting far longer. Collins Street Elementary was built around 1960 and closed in the early 1980s amid declining enrollment in the West Valley; the district later leased the campus to a private school before moving to demolish the buildings in 2017.

Board member Nick Melvoin, whose district includes the site, didn't hide his enthusiasm:

"One of the more exciting things that I get to vote on in this seat. In addition to solving a housing crisis in this region, it's also a community benefit. Collins has sat empty for 40 years. That has been a blight in the Valley."— Board member Nick Melvoin, via the Daily News

Not everyone is sold. One neighbor who called in Tuesday raised concerns about the project's size, traffic, parking and years of construction, urging the district to run more traffic and parking studies and involve neighbors as the project develops. The district held two hybrid community meetings for each of four potential housing sites in summer 2025, where residents raised similar concerns about traffic, parking, building height and construction noise — while also pressing for details on rents, eligibility and the timeline.

The Collins project is the biggest piece of a broader push. On Tuesday the board also selected the West Hollywood Community Housing Corporation and Alpha Construction Company to pursue a separate workforce development at 1049 N. Fairfax Ave. — 207 apartments for households at 30% to 120% of AMI, also in Melvoin's district. The district's own newsroom headline put the combined potential at "nearly 600" workforce housing units. Two other half-acre sites — near Gompers Middle School and Hoover Elementary — drew no proposals, which officials attributed to their smaller size and financing constraints.

The housing push lands in a strange fiscal moment for the district. This week the state watchdog FCMAT warned that LAUSD faces a $3.05 billion shortfall by 2029 and could be forced to slash more than 6,000 positions — right after the district agreed to labor deals costing about $1.17 billion a year, according to the NY Post. That's the paradox of the Collins project: a district warning of insolvency is also its own landlord, building homes with tax-credit money that never touches its general fund. For LAUSD employees priced out of the Valley, the distinction probably doesn't matter much. For more, see our LAUSD coverage and affordable-housing reporting.

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