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# Local housing provider awarded nearly $100K
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/local-housing-provider-awarded-nearly-100k/
- Published: 2003-07-31T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:39:58.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Real Estate & Housing, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By PATRICK KINMARTIN Daily Press Staff Writer*

Joan Ling’s local work has earned her national acclaim.

Ling, the executive director of Community Corp. of Santa Monica, was recognized as one of the nation’s leading housing development professionals when she was honored with the James A. Johnson Community Fellows Award last week in Washington, D.C.

Ling was one of six housing development leaders from across the nation to receive the award, which comes with a $90,000 grant that includes a $20,000 educational travel and study stipend.

Ling said she plans to use the stipend to travel around the U.S. and parts of Europe to analyze some of the best practices used in urban development and design. She also plans to use much of the grant money to take three months off and help Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) with environmental housing concerns.

The Fellows award is given to housing development professionals who have significantly impacted the field of community development and affordable housing.

CCSM also will receive a $25,000 grant for transitional costs while Ling is temporarily gone.

“The city of Santa Monica should be recognized as well for putting its money where its mouth is in providing affordable housing,” she said.

Since Ling took over as executive director in 1991, CCSM has gone from owning and managing 300 affordable housing units to owning and managing 1,200 units in Santa Monica. “Joan has transformed her agency from a troubled group to a professional and able housing developer, and not incidentally, the major provider of affordable housing in Santa Monica,” said Bob Moncrief, the city’s housing and redevelopment manager.

Ling also has taken an active role in influencing housing policy at local and state levels. In 1998, after settling a NIMBY (“not in my backyard”) lawsuit that sought to block four CCSM projects, Ling and other affordable housing advocates prompted city leaders to put an affordable housing referendum on the ballot.

Voters approved the referendum, which allows the city to build up to 2.5 percent of its housing stock as low-income every year. Since the referendum passed, 40 projects with about 800 units of affordable housing have been built.

After homeowners recently threatened to use California’s environmental law to block affordable housing projects, Ling worked with other advocates and city leaders to exempt some smaller-scale projects from environmental review at local and state levels.

Although Ling is proud to be an award recipient, she emphasized it takes the hard work and support of “dedicated armies of people” to promote changes to increase the availability of decent, affordable housing for low-and middle-income people.

The James A. Johnson Community Fellows Program was created in 1998 and has helped to increase the number of first-time homeowners, refurbish homes for elderly and handicapped homeowners and encourage changes in land-use policy to promote affordable housing.

“The program is an incredible opportunity for the honorees to develop new ideas and strategies that will ultimately benefit the field,” said Stacey Stewart, president of the Fannie Mae Foundation.

Ling plans to continue developing a statewide coalition of affordable housing advocates, environmentalists, real estate professionals and city leaders. The coalition’s aim will be to promote policies that make it easier to develop much-needed affordable housing projects.

Ling believes the coalition will be crucial for California, which has been overwhelmed by growth, overcrowding and sky-rocketing housing prices. Helping the state overcome those challenges will be a task welcomed by Ling, who said she enjoys “the thrill of making something beautiful and functional out of a heap of materials.”

Perhaps no thrill, however, would be greater for Ling than to see the reaction of her late father after she was recognized with the award. Ling pointed out how pleased he was when she built a doghouse from scratch as a young girl for the family pet.

“He was just beside himself with joy and pride,” Ling said. “So I think that he would probably feel the same way.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 31, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/073103.pdf?ref=smdp.com)