Going All Electric on L.A.'s Eastside

As president and CEO of East LA Community Corporation (ELACC), Monica Mejia works to advance economic and social justice through affordable housing, financial counseling, and a range of programs serving L.A.’s Eastside communities. Earlier this year, her nonprofit announced plans to adopt an all-electric energy system across its entire housing portfolio of 24 properties.

“By integrating sustainability into the core of our development strategy, we are not just preserving homes for low-income families – we are creating healthier, more equitable communities,” Mejia said in announcing the decarbonization initiative that will tap into Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) dollars to launch the new strategy at two of ELACC’s properties.

In total, ELACC has developed more than 1,000 affordable apartments and 89 single-family homes and serves 7,000 people annually. Mejia joined the nonprofit in 2021 with two decades of affordable housing development experience. She is passionate about ELACC’s “development without displacement” goal and strives to give residents the tools they need for stability and success.

Mejia spoke with Enterprise about some of her organization’s creative approaches to community building, the many layers of her work, and why it is critical to preserve some of L.A.’s oldest neighborhoods.

Community building is a key strategy for ELACC. Can you share an example of how you do this through your decarbonization work?

Decarbonization strengthens a building itself – we replace the mechanical equipment, AC, heater, and other systems that extend a building’s longevity.

Person smiling with long dark hair and a gazebo in the background

We talk to the tenants about what it means to participate in greenhouse gas reduction, which most people don’t wake up and think about. When we have these conversations, we build community.

Monica Mejia

Residents get to know each other and it helps them feel a part of their building. They develop a conscious relationship with the environment and that builds an environmentally conscious community.

Why is solar an important part of your decarbonization strategy?

We are in a unique position in California in that we have a lot of solar facilities. If we can make our buildings all electric, we have turned those apartments into a resource that is no longer affecting greenhouse gases. That is a unique situation – both being in California and being in an economic environment where the energy supply is shifting to mostly renewable-resource production.

In addition to providing affordable housing, ELACC’s services include financial, renter, and homebuyer counseling, foreclosure prevention, and micro-lending. Tell me why it’s important to have this multilayered approach.

We work in neighborhoods where about 30% of the people live below the federal poverty level. The affordable housing supply is very small compared to the need. Sometimes our work is to help people stay in their housing. This year, we helped more than 15 households fight off foreclosure.

We help our community with other services, especially for immigrants and people new to U.S. financial systems. When we do free taxes, we discuss their financial options and future plans. Our services give community members a more equitable footing, so they can pursue their dreams and have equal opportunities here in California.

ELACC recently hired a chef to give cooking classes, which helped with residents’ health as well as community building.

Group of people stand around a raised garden bed with apartments in the background

We brought a chef to our community garden and the chef uses what’s growing there and makes delicious recipes. He has gotten so much attention from the tenants, and they love tasting the food and taking the cooking classes. They not only get the nutrients, but it gets them outside. They have a chance to exercise, socialize, be outside, and be connected to the earth.

Many of the buildings ELACC works in rely on rent to fund operating costs. You said the biggest challenges you are encountering these days is rising operating costs.

It’s important to collect rent so we can keep the building stable, but the flip side of that – and this tears my heart apart – is a community that’s very low income. Less than 10% have a college degree, and many are monolingual Spanish speakers vulnerable to losing jobs or getting ill, and unable to work or pay rent sometimes.

We want stable housing for everybody, so we’re desperately looking for rental assistance. It can help people who have short-term income loss, a situation like an injury or a car breaking down, or a family crisis. They need a little help paying the rent, and it’s important they stay in their home and keep their family stability.

You said ELACC hopes to expand its work in acquisitions and rehabilitation. This is particularly important in L.A., where there is a lot of older building stock.

Many landlords, especially those who have rent-controlled buildings, do not maintain their apartments, and we think that’s fundamentally unfair. If you pay rent, you deserve a clean and safe place and the fact that landlords don’t provide that is a disgrace.

We are interested in expanding our work in the acquisition space and purchasing as many small apartment buildings as we can. We want to convert them to affordable housing with rent restrictions, decarbonize them, rehabilitate them, and encourage a higher standard of care. That’s what we call equity – all people need a safe, well-maintained place to live.

Why is preserving these older buildings is a key priority for ELACC.

ELACC works on the Eastside of Los Angeles, where 95% of the population is Latino. People love the neighborhood they live in and want to stay in their community.

A lot of the housing stock is made up of smaller, one- or two-story buildings that are part of the neighborhood’s character. We don’t want to demolish everything and do new construction everywhere; we want to preserve the old classic buildings while protecting their residents.

We have intense displacement and gentrification pressures, so it’s also an anti-displacement strategy. We are only about two miles from downtown L.A. so that creates market pressure, and our community members may be displaced if we don’t try this acquisition and rehab approach.

You said another important piece is helping people understand how to access affordable housing.

A lot of people who are technically homeless do not necessarily think of themselves as homeless. They may live on a couch or in a car from time to time, go in and out of homelessness, or sometimes live in a closet or a shed. They may not have access to the internet or resources for people who are homeless. We’d like to set up a drop-in housing resource center, where people can talk one-on-one with a housing counselor and discuss options for accessing affordable housing.

Vesna Jaksic Lowe is an award-winning journalist. This profile is part of our series, The Resilient 7, celebrating leaders building a more sustainable future. Read previous installments:

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