SCAG Awards $35 Million In Infrastructure Funding To Help Local Jurisdictions Meet Housing Goals
On Jan. 4, SCAG’s Regional Council approved $35 million for 12 projects that will help local jurisdictions meet their housing production goals.
The grants were approved under the Regional Utilities Supporting Housing Pilot Program (RUSH) to support investments in utility infrastructure planning and capital improvements. RUSH is part of SCAG’s efforts to fund planning, financing and infrastructure to accelerate housing production under SCAG’s Regional Early Action Planning program, which has awarded more than $192 million to projects throughout Southern California in the past year.
“We congratulate these 12 projects for helping to address Southern California’s housing crisis and gratified that the RUSH program allows SCAG to fill a critical need by helping local jurisdictions overcome barriers to housing production,” said SCAG Executive Director Kome Ajise.
The following lists of awardees by county:
LOS ANGELES COUNTY
- City of Santa Fe Springs. New Downtown Residential Infrastructure Study and Plans ($800,000). This grant award will help the city complete construction plans for public utility and green infrastructure within 98.7 acres recently rezoned from industrial to mixed-use. The project will allow the continuation of low- and moderate-income residential projects in an area that can accommodate nearly 1,600 new housing units.
- City of Torrance. Torrance Housing Corridor Utility Infrastructure Study ($100,000). This planning project will identify green and sustainable utility infrastructure to support new housing development within the city’s existing Housing Corridor Overlay (HCO). The HCO, approved in 2023 for the city’s 6th Cycle Housing Element, allows housing and mixed-use development at a variety of income levels to be permitted by-right in seven areas throughout the city.
- Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles. One San Pedro Redevelopment Infrastructure ($4 million). This capital project will help expand the electrical capacity at the One San Pedro Specific Plan site and 327 Harbor Site. The development will replace 478 units of low-density housing and a vacant site with over 1,500 units of new, accessible and higher density mixed-income housing in a transit-oriented location.
- Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Project Powerhouse. Supporting Affordable Housing Development in the City of Los Angeles ($3.7 million). This project will eliminate costs for routing power and expedite needs determination and LADWP approvals for 100 percent affordable or supportive housing projects by building out public right of way utility infrastructure needed to provide reliable electricity to these facilities.
RIVERSIDE COUNTY
- City of Desert Hot Springs. Downtown and Palm Dr. Corridor Infill Development Sewer Area Study ($500,000). This grant award will fund a sewer area study for Downtown Desert Hot Springs and Palm Drive to support new infill development of local affordable housing while promoting connectivity and sustainability. The study’s boundaries include newly zoned mixed use and high density residential vacant land, as well as the Green Day Village project recently approved for a 608-unit multi-family housing development.
- County of Riverside. Cabazon Infrastructure Plan ($997,500). The county will conduct an infrastructure assessment for the unincorporated community of Cabazon to help coordinate the expansion of utility infrastructure necessary for up to 1,484 housing units of high-density residential development.
- Soboba Luiseño Indian Tribe. Stormwater Drainage Project ($6.1 million). This capital project will construct a storm water collection system to collect runoff resulting from rain flow from the foothills of the Soboba Indian Reservation. Catastrophic flood events have impacted existing homes and stopped future home development from continuing in the area.
- City of Palm Desert. Flood Control Infrastructure for Housing Need ($8,000,000). This project will expand the city’s utility capacity to mitigate future severe flooding impacting future and existing housing developments along the I-10 corridor in an area that has experienced recent flood disasters. The project will support the development of 3,386 units currently approved and 1,663 units under review.
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
- City of Upland. City of Upland Affordable Housing Utilities Planning ($303,500). This project will produce design and engineering plans for two utility projects needed for the development of 174 affordable housing units in Historic Downtown Upland.
- San Bernardino County. Bloomington Sewer Extension ($6.5 million). This project will extend existing sewer infrastructure and increase capacity for recently upzoned areas. Bloomington, San Bernardino County’s most populated unincorporated community, has minimal active service connections and several parcels not currently supported by the local sanitation district.
- City of Rialto. Water Supply Well City 3A for Regional Housing Project ($2.5 million). This project will equip an existing unused water well with a treatment system to provide an additional local water source. When completed, the system will pump treated water into an existing water distribution pipeline and provide water to the entire Rialto Water Service Area, including 4,994 newly-zoned housing units identified in Rialto’s 6th Cycle Housing Element.
IMPERIAL COUNTY
- City of Calipatria. City of Calipatria Delta Street Pump Station ($1.5 million). This project will design and construct necessary repairs to the Delta Street Pump Station to promote existing and future affordable residential development in the Calipatria Eastside Specific Plan, which can accommodate up to 736 units. Improvements include the installation of an updated electrical control system, a new blower system to remove corrosive gases, upgraded centrifugal pumps and rehabilitation of the wet well concrete and steel support members.