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# House divided: Step Up turned down
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/house-divided-step-up-turned-down/
- Published: 2006-11-09T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T22:04:13.000Z
- Author: Kevin Herrera
- Tags: Government & Politics, Ocean Park, #archive-import

*For Step Up, loan process was a lesson learned*

OCEAN PARK — The organization behind a plan to house young men and women with mental disorders in a triplex near John Adams Middle School will have to go back to the drawing board, after being denied a $450,000 loan by City Hall.

Tod Lipka, executive director of the mental health provider Step Up on Second, said Wednesday that the nonprofit pulled out of a deal to purchase the property at 1826 Pearl St. because of the inability to secure a loan from City Hall. All of the additional funding for the project, expected to cost just under $2 million, was contingent on Step Up securing the loan from city officials.

“This is disappointing,” Lipka said. “One thing is clear. For us, this project is needed as a preventive step, but we will have to go back and regroup and... figure out what we want to do now.”

The plan in question included the purchase of the triplex, where the non-profit hoped to place at least eight men and women between the ages of 18 and 26 who had recently experienced their first episodes of mental illness. Participants in the two-year transitional living program would have been monitored around the clock by staff, who would look to teach them the skills needed to better manage their lives.

Residents expressed strong opposition to the plan out of concern that the project would displace several tenants who currently live at the location, create a safety risk for students and residents if the occupants failed to stay on their medication, and add to the growing list of affordable housing projects and social service providers located in the area.

“We thought this was pretty much a done deal, that they would come up with funding one way or the other,” said Jeff Bender, a resident who lives across the street from the triplex. “I’m surprised the city didn’t go through with this... I have respect for the program and I hope (Step Up) can find a suitable location.”

City officials said the concerns of residents were well known, however, they did not factor into the decision to deny the loan.

“It was based purely on technical grounds,” said Bob Moncrief, housing manager for City Hall. “What they had proposed was essentially a group home where people share the same facilities and services are provided, and in our guidelines for housing, they really didn’t meet the definition of a group home.”

City Hall defines a group home as a single unit, such as a house. The Step Up project included a home and two apartments located in the backyard that would have been private units for graduates of the program, Moncrief said.

“In terms of the population they were targeting — wanting to serve the most vulnerable, that being young people experiencing the first stages of mental illness — we would like to work with them as a housing division and try to find some alternative way to assist this population,”said Moncrief.

Step Up originally asked City Hall for a $1.7 million loan, which was denied because it did not meet funding guidelines, according to the housing manager.

While unsuccessful, Lipka said the process provided a valuable learning experience for Step Up, which established a neighborhood advisory board comprised of residents who are critics and supporters of the project.

“We had some very positive dialogue and helped raise awareness about mental illness,”said Lipka, who said he continually confronts misperceptions about those who suffer from mental disorders.“With that in mind, we think this was worthwhile... regardless of the outcome.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 9, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/110906.pdf?ref=smdp.com)