Garden Grove approves preliminary award for 81-unit St. Anselm senior housing project

Garden Grove city officials on Tuesday approved a preliminary award letter that commits local housing funds and project-based rental assistance for a proposed 81-unit senior affordable housing development at St. Anselm’s Episcopal Church.

The award letter commits the city and the Garden Grove Housing Authority to provide up to $2,000,000 from Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA) funds and 21 project‑based vouchers to support the Saint Anselm Senior Apartments development, project representatives and city staff said during a joint presentation to the Housing Authority and City Council.

Timothy Throne, who introduced the item for staff, said the award letter “provides the developer a commitment of housing funds and project based vouchers for the construction of an 81 unit senior affordable housing development at St. Anselm’s Episcopal Church.” He told the board the developer had leveraged other local financing sources and planned to pursue significant state awards under the HCD 2025 housing super NOFA.

Why it matters: The project pairs affordable housing construction with on-site supportive services, reserving 21 units as permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless seniors and preserving the existing church presence on the site. City and housing authority approval of the award letter enables the developer to proceed with…