Panel Balks on Housing for Seniors : Supporters Claim Delay Imperils Lawndale Plan
Despite warnings that delays could cost Lawndale a $3-million, federally funded senior housing project, the Planning Commission called for substantial changes in the project and put off making recommendations to the City Council until next Wednesday.
The fate of the long-sought project is hanging by a thread, said Paula Burrier, the city’s housing director and acting planning director.
At a contentious 2-hour public hearing on Wednesday, Burrier warned the Planning Commission that the nonprofit developer of the proposed 56-unit project faces imminent deadlines set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Officials declined to give a specific deadline date, but said that within the next few weeks Cooperative Services Inc. must have obtained city approval in order to meet federal time lines for the project at the southwest corner of 153rd Place and Condon Avenue.
Can Go to Another City
The development company can take the project--and the $3 million in federal funds--to another city if it is not able to reach an agreement with Lawndale, Burrier said.
In an interview, Burrier said she is “very concerned” about the fate of the project. “The meeting next week is going to be critical.”
Noel Sweitzer, a consultant to the developer, said if further delays occur she would advise Cooperative Services to withdraw from Lawndale and build the low-cost housing elsewhere.
“If this goes on we just can’t afford to wait,” she said. “You have to have a willing partner” to undertake such a venture, she said.
Citing a need for low-cost senior housing in Lawndale, Commissioner Carol Norman supported the plan and warned that imposing new restrictions could, in effect, kill the project.
The city was fortunate to qualify for the “much coveted” Section 202 federal funds, said Norman, who administers federal housing programs in the City of Hawthorne. Lawndale was chosen “because there is a great need here,” she said.
Affordable housing for low-income sen
iors is in great demand in the South Bay, with several projects having such long waiting lists they are no longer accepting applications.
The problem is expected to intensify as seniors become a larger segment of the South Bay population, researchers said. For example, 6% of Lawndale’s population was 65 or older in 1980, but by 1990 that share is expected to increase to 8.4%, according to National Planning Data Corp., a New York-based firm that studies population trends.
In Palos Verdes Estates, the elderly segment of the population is expected to increase from 7.3% in 1980 to 14.9% in 1990, the company reported.
At this week’s hearing, three Lawndale residents, including senior activist Harry Schapiro, said the shortage of low-income housing has forced many elderly people to move out of Lawndale.
Six residents opposed the project because they said it would not provide sufficient parking and because the federal subsidies preclude the city from limiting the project to Lawndale seniors. Because of federal requirements, “you can’t guarantee who’s going to live here,” said one critic, whose remarks were loudly applauded.
Eleanor Tugaw, a resident at South Park Manor, a federally funded senior project developed by Cooperative Services Inc. in Gardena, said Lawndale residents’ fears may be unfounded. Although people from outside Gardena cannot be excluded, she said, the vast majority of applicants at South Park Manor and 71% of the current residents are from Gardena. These programs attract mostly the local elderly, she said.
Tugaw said that although the senior project has fewer parking spaces than would be required at other multiple unit residential projects, there is plenty of parking available because few seniors have cars. Most low-income seniors cannot afford to drive, she said. In response to a question, however, she acknowledged that parking for South Park Manor is also available at a city park next door.
In a 3-1 vote, the Planning Commission approved the necessary “residential planned development” zoning for the project.
However, the commission did not grant the developer’s request for a waiver of certain height, density and parking restrictions.
Smaller Project
Chairman Gordon W. Youngs and Commissioner Gary McDonald challenged the three-story height, 56 units and 33 parking spaces proposed. They spoke in favor of a smaller project or more parking.
The commission decided to continue its discussion at a special meeting at 6 p.m Wednesday at City Hall, 14717 Burin Ave. The earliest that the commission’s recommendations could be submitted to the City Council, acting as the city Housing Authority, would be Feb. 4.
Supporters said the project offers a rare opportunity to provide affordable housing for seniors. Because of federal subsidies, tenants would pay no more than one-third of their income in rent. A senior with a monthly income of $500, for example, would pay no more than $167 a month. The federal government limits such projects to individuals with annual incomes of about $11,000 and couples with $13,500.
Burrier said the city has been working for more than four years to provide low-income housing for seniors in Lawndale. Because of local opposition to federal government subsidies and controls, the city at first attempted to work with private developers. Several plans fell through because private developers could not provide projects with sufficiently low rents, Burrier said.
The city then turned to the idea of a federally funded project developed by a nonprofit company. The federal funds for construction and rent subsidies would enable the project to offer rents low enough to accommodate seniors living on Social Security, Burrier said.
