- Neighborhood Congregational Church in Laguna Beach plans 28 affordable apartments plus a manager’s unit
- The Planning Commission approved entitlements on June 3, 2026
- City Council approved parcel maps on July 7 and gap funding on July 15, 2026
- Homes will stay affordable for at least 55 years
Neighborhood Congregational Church in Laguna Beach, California, has worshipped in the town for about 80 years. Its project page sets out how it plans to use part of its property for affordable housing while keeping its congregation on site, and records a run of approvals in the summer of 2026.
The Laguna Beach Planning Commission approved the project’s entitlements on June 3, 2026. City Council approved the parcel maps on July 7 and approved gap funding on July 15. The development partners are Related California and Riverside Charitable Corporation, with research support from the University of California, Irvine’s Livable Cities Lab.
The plan is for 28 affordable apartments plus one resident manager’s unit, roughly half studios and one-bedrooms and half two- and three-bedroom homes, with 41 parking spaces. Residents would earn between $35,550 and $109,680 a year. As of October 2025, estimated rents ranged from about $888 to $1,777 for a studio and up to about $2,640 for a three-bedroom unit. Affordability would last at least 55 years, with options to renew.
The church’s page sets the project against local costs: it notes that a wage of $49.92 an hour is needed to afford an average two-bedroom rental in Orange County, and that an average one-bedroom in Laguna Beach costs about $2,617 a month.
Laguna Beach is an expensive seaside town, and Jamaica’s resort areas raise a similar question: can the people who work in hotels, shops and schools afford to live nearby? The church’s approach, using its own land and an experienced developer to provide homes with long-term rent limits, is a model that Jamaican congregations in tourism towns could study. For diaspora members in California, it is also a local project worth following.
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