Interfaith Council Gets $400,000 Loan From L. A. for Motel to Shelter Homeless

The City of Los Angeles will lend $400,000 to the Valley Interfaith Council to help buy a North Hollywood motel for use as a shelter for the homeless, city officials said Wednesday.

The low-interest rate loan was approved Tuesday, said William Jones, rehabilitation director of the Community Redevelopment Agency.

Three Loans

It includes $200,000 in redevelopment agency funds and $200,000 from the Community Development Department. Jones said the Interfaith Council has also received a $200,000 loan from the state to be used toward the purchase of the Fiesta Motel at 7843 Lankershim Blvd. for $2.2 million.

Jones said both city agencies have set aside money to help nonprofit organizations with worthwhile projects to aid the homeless. He said the Valley Interfaith Council proposal appears to be a good project and expressed the hope that it will become a model for others in the city.

A condition of the loan is that the organization landscape the motel, Jones said.

Leaders of the council and motel owner Leslie Goldhammer refused to comment on the progress of the negotiations. However, Jones said escrow on the sale is expected to close March 12.

Rooms for Homeless

Twenty-two of the 77 rooms in the motel have been made available to the homeless since last March, when the county Board of Supervisors channeled $50,000 in federal funds to the council. The money was used for vouchers for a temporary stay at the motel.

Businessmen and residents in the neighborhood around the Fiesta Motel have opposed the shelter since the project’s inception.

Tom Paterson, president of the North Hollywood Residents Assn., said residents are forming a group to oppose the project, which was explained to them by city officials and representatives of the interfaith council at a meeting about two months ago.

Residents are concerned about traffic generated by the Fiesta, another motel and a retirement home, all in the 7800 block of Lankershim Boulevard, Paterson said. He said the Fiesta’s neighbors also fear that homeless people, who will only be housed in the motel for seven days at a time, will join others who already sleep in cars in the area.

Opposition Stand

Michael Winkler, who owns a mobile telephone business across the street, said he is opposed to the project. “The last thing I want is more derelicts around here,” he said.

Winkler said taxpayers’ money could be better spent by putting homeless people in work programs and by aiding the elderly poor.

“I think most people who are in that situation mostly put themselves there. There’s always work if you want it.”

The council’s board of directors voted last September to begin negotiations to buy the motel.

A concert to raise money to help purchase the motel and assist the city-funded Better Valley Services with other homeless projects is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Chuck Landis Country Club in Reseda. The concert will feature Christian rock groups.

Nancy Bianconi, motel project coordinator of the interfaith council, said part of the proceeds will be used for the Fiesta Motel purchase.

She has estimated there are 5,000 homeless people in the San Fernando Valley.