A once-vacant Craftsman house in Harvard Heights is on the verge of a major second act, as construction at Steps on St. Andrews in the 1800 block of South St. Andrews Place nears the finish line. The small supportive-housing project will bring 19 permanent supportive studio apartments reserved for veterans, combining a restored, century-old Craftsman converted into eight apartments with a new three-story, 12-unit building tucked behind it. The front yard and porch are being preserved so the block keeps its historic street-facing look, even as new homes tied to on-site supportive services move in behind the familiar facade.
Recent construction progress surfaced in a contractor update and was reported by Urbanize LA, which notes that Holos Communities is leading the development and is salvaging original interior details like hardwood floors, shelving and vintage doorknobs for reuse. According to that report, the preserved house will link to the new rear wing through a one-story community room topped by a rooftop deck, with LOHA credited for the design in prior renderings and planning documents.
Design and preservation
Holos Communities describes Steps on St. Andrews as a fully electric project that will include solar panels, shared amenity space and a small interior courtyard tying together the old house and the new building. The developer’s notes list 19 studio apartments plus a manager’s unit and highlight the reuse of original materials as both a character-preserving move and a way to cut construction waste. The goal, according to those materials, is to create preservation-minded, compact supportive homes on an established central Los Angeles block rather than on a blank slate.
Who will live there and services
The completed property is slated to operate as permanent supportive housing for veterans, with The People Concern designated as the on-site service provider, Urbanize LA reports. Supportive housing is typically structured to combine subsidized apartments with case management and health services, a pairing advocates argue is crucial to keeping veterans stably housed. Local officials have previously framed Steps on St. Andrews as one piece of a broader push to confront veteran homelessness across the city.
Funding and timeline
Holos’ public construction tracker showed Steps on St. Andrews at about 77% complete as of September 2025, indicating the project had moved past framing and into finish work. According to reporting from LA YIMBY, capital for the development includes financing from National Equity Fund, Banner Bank and the California Department of Housing and Community Development, with Holos and its partners in charge of construction and long-term operations. The developer has not announced a specific move-in date, and final inspections plus city clearances will determine when veterans can begin occupying the new homes.
From the sidewalk, neighbors will still see a traditional Craftsman that fits the existing streetscape, but behind it a cluster of supportive homes will replace what had been vacancy, a small-site model that advocates say could be repeated on other city parcels. Community groups in Harvard Heights have followed the project from planning through groundbreaking, and housing advocates point to this approach as a quicker, preservation-forward way to add deeply affordable units. Residents and prospective applicants are being directed to follow updates from the developer and local housing portals for information on when application windows open.
