SANTA MONICA, Calif. — For as long as she can remember, Nichelle Monroe heard stories about a certain street in the Pico Neighborhood of Santa Monica, though the exact location is a bit of a mystery.

That’s where her grandparents, Vernon and Amanda Brunson, owned a duplex and where her mother was born.

“They really didn’t talk about this area,” she said, walking in an alley that was once the intersection of 20th Street and Michigan Avenue. “I imagine that it was a very sore spot for them.”

The Brunsons were living the American dream, just one of many families in a thriving Black community, when their cherished home was demolished by the city.

“It’s very uprooting, and it feels like someone steeling,” Monroe said.

More than half a century ago, Santa Monica used eminent domain to build the 10 Freeway and a local civic center, displacing more than 1,000 mostly Black families. Now the city is trying to make amends.

Natasha Kingscote, an administrator for Santa Monica’s Housing and Human Services Division, said the city is offering descendants of displaced families priority access to 100 rental units at below market rates.

The city also put up a permanent exhibit around its new sports field to commemorate the Black families that lost their homes.

“We’re never going to move forward if we don’t stop and have these really difficult conversations,” Kingscote said.

Since the murder of George Floyd in 2020, states and municipalities across the county have been forced to reckon with their dark past. Last year, California agreed to return a parcel of land known as Bruce’s Beach after it was taken from a Black family a century ago.

Dr. Alison Rose Jefferson, a Santa Monica historian, said the city’s efforts don’t go nearly far enough.

“The put that freeway through the middle of the African American community. It was intentional,” she said.

The city of Santa Monica agrees. But said two years of COVID have left its coffers empty.

“It absolutely doesn’t go as far as it should,” Kingscote said. “It’s definitely going to take more than just this program.”

Monroe said the only way to make amends is to offer descendants the appreciated value of what the homes would be worth in today’s market.

“We’re looking for justice, not just a Band-Aid,” she said. “Justice is expensive, especially when it’s gone on so long.”

The deadline to apply for the city's pilot program, known as Right to Return, ends Tuesday at midnight. You can find out more information here.