Health and Safety Should be Color-Blind: LISC LA Commits $3.7M to Building Lincoln Heights Health Clinic
5.12.2020
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LISC StoriesAffordable Housing
As a global pandemic arrives and infiltrates the city of Los Angeles, it is increasingly clear that the virus is neither color-blind nor indifferent to income. People of color and the lowest-income members of our communities are being disproportionately affected by the coronavirus. As the cases roll in, it is more and more clear that we live in a city with uneven health provisions for disadvantaged and minority populations. Now more than ever, the situation demands that we make changes to how we care for and support the health of our neighbors.
At the forefront, LISC LA and our partners are taking steps to ensure that the future of Los Angeles is a safe and healthy one for all of our citizens. In 2019, LISC LA committed $3.69 million to the nonprofit affordable housing developer, Decro Corporation as an acquisition loan. The loan was utilized to purchase the site of the future Brine Clinic, soon to become a 11,538 square foot newly constructed health clinic in Lincoln Heights. Located on the corner of Main Street and Johnston Street, The Brine Clinic has been strategically situated to serve the surrounding community of mostly economically disadvantaged families.
The Brine Clinic is only one part of a larger multi-use complex that puts health at the center of its purpose, The Brine. Encompassing nearly a block of urban real estate, The Brine is positioned to revitalize and provide much needed services to the area, including commercial space, a grocery store, medical office space and 97 units of urgently needed affordable housing soon to be under construction.
“Bringing together access to fresh food, housing, and health care for the most vulnerable in our communities, The Brine serves as a beacon of hope for a more sustainable future in the aftermath of Covid-19. With early evidence that the working poor and elderly may be disproportionately affected by the pandemic, Decro aims to focus on new development opportunities going forward that further replicate this model in other neighborhoods."
The Brine’s ninety-seven units of affordable residential units will serve the same communities that have been most at risk during the current pandemic while providing them with vital services. 49 permanent supportive housing units with access to on-site medical and mental health services are to be allocated to veterans, homeless youth, seniors, and survivors of domestic violence and sex trafficking. And Decro Corporation has acquired three additional homes from the adjacent block to be repurposed as a therapeutic day care facility.
But The Brine’s health services do not end with its residents, with 70,000 square feet of medical and commercial space planned to serve the community. The Brine Clinic will encompass a health center, pediatric mental health clinic, and medical office, and the commercial plans include a local grocer with a commitment to providing healthy food for the local population. The Brine complex, which plans to redevelop a current liquor store, auto repair shop, and pickle factory (the inspiration for the new development’s name), will be situated within less than a mile of the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.
In this time of crisis, it is increasingly clear that action must be taken now to protect all of our neighbors, but the problem goes beyond just the current pandemic. LISC LA and our partners like Decro Corporation are at the forefront of a holistic approach to building healthy communities, one that involves affordable housing, healthy nutrition and habits, and physical and mental health. We believe in health and safety for all of our city, and projects like The Brine are a vital component to creating this Los Angeles.
