Community Corp. of Santa Monica - Santa Monica, California

Money G.

Community Corp.of Santa Monica has been such a blessing in my life there's no words to explain how helpful they have been to me and many other people here in Santa Monica California.

JONATHAN M.

Community corp has been awesome and helped me out so much I couldn’t thank them enough because they helped me get off the streets and into my own place !!! Thank you community corp of Santa Monica!!!!!

Scott ?. B. P. B.

I have been living by the beach for five years now. The management company has been helpful over the years and is willing to work with the tenants. Plus, it's a short walk from the train station and the beach.

Jamie M. D. (. M.

Sooo, you gotta be on the Below Market Housing list thru the City of Santa Monica. There is a long list and hope you receive an invite to apply. They choose 20 people to contact for every one Apt. Better off finding one on my own. Only problem is most rents for one bedroom exceed the amount of the Voucher. Slim chance, but, I'm not giving up.

A G.

I'm sure very few residents of Santa Monica who actually needed housing would describe this organization as either nice people or as providing housing for people in SM. The sign-up meetings they have once a year to get in the eligibility list are grueling, rude, filled with a shouting staff member telling people all the reasons they should "just leave," and totally unproductive for most SM residents.

I notice the one person who said otherwise works for a real estate company. These people seem to get their friends housing, and the word is 75-90% of them come from outside SM.

This is how CCSM eliminates SM residents: first, you have to have an income of over $1400 a month to apply. What possible excuse could an organization that claims to provide affordable housing for needy people have for eliminating the neediest off the bat? Then if you get past that hurdle, you have to have good credit as shown by a FICO score, which is what is used to qualify people to BUY houses. Other affordable housing providers make you prove only that you have paid for two or three years the amount of rent that would be your share on their scale, given your income (which, given no floor to income in those other places, often is as little as $452 a month, even in expensive San Francisco area neighborhoods). If that does not eliminate all the needy people, the applications are ranked in terms of the "most qualified," who are offered housing first when any becomes available.

The result of this is that people from outside SM with incomes as high as whatever category of housing being offered will allow are virtually the only ones CCSM provides with housing. We have been asking to see their records if they prove otherwise for over a year, with no success.

The organization also has far too many highly paid staff members, especially considering how little housing it provides, regardless of to whom that housing is provided. If the money spent on this organization for the last 35 years had been spent instead on housing, what information we can obtain makes it appear we would have at least twice as much affordable housing as we do.

Chris B.

Living in my building for 20 yrs, CCSM is the owner for approx. 8 yrs. If I have a maintenance problem, they come and fix it as soon as possible, next day usually. Good organization. Karoly Zs.

MM M.

This is a dishonest scam organization. They take money from taxpayers who are barely surviving and then scoop up private property and turn it into ugly hideous low income housing buildings that are an eyesore. Since when is it a human right to live next to the beach. Corruption big time where does the excess money go after they build ugly square buildings made from aluminum with multimiion dollar budget.

Rodney H.

Been signing up with this company for years and have never received a call back or anything. Once in awhile, they'll send a letter stating that I need to reapply but that's about it.