The Graying of Whittier : ‘Perfect City for Senior Housing’ Offers Many Attributes of Small-Town Life

When Robert J. Harris was hunting for a place to build a luxury apartment complex for senior citizens, he looked in Anaheim, the San Fernando Valley and Northern California before settling on a site in Uptown Whittier.

Harris found that market studies predicted that Whittier’s senior population, which by some estimates has swelled to about 20,000 from about 14,000 in 1980, would at least remain stable.

But the city had something more than attractive demographics. “It is an island in the massive metropolitan area of Los Angeles,” he said, “an island with all the positive attributes of small-town U.S.A.”

And so Whittier finds itself with Harris’ 146-unit Chateau Whittier scheduled to open in June and three other senior projects in the works. All told, the developments will add more than 600 senior housing units to a city that already boasts far more than its share of retirement homes and convalescent hospitals.

Image of a Model City

“It’s clean, it’s conservative. They feel safe,” said Sadia Middlebrook of Circle T Corp., which wants to develop a 159-unit senior apartment complex in the Uptown area.

Added Michael Costa of Calmark, which plans to break ground this year on a 241-unit senior project, “If you’re going to look for a model city, Whittier is probably a perfect city for senior housing.”

According to the 1980 census, about 19% of Whittier’s 70,000 residents at that time were older than 60. Developers say seniors now make up about 25% of Whittier’s 75,000 population. City officials say the percentage is closer to 20%, but even that is more than double the rate for Los Angeles County.

Whittier’s senior projects are concentrated in the Uptown area within walking distance of the quaint business district, the city’s $1-million Senior Center, the Health Department, the local Social Security office, and other agencies. The nearby Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital also promotes extensive health services for the elderly.

“That’s why they flock here,” said Eileen Martinez, the city’s senior citizens program supervisor. “In other areas, services are scattered and transportation is difficult.”

Senior Center Is Busy

The Whittier Senior Center has about 1,500 members, and another 1,500 seniors belong to private clubs that sponsor trips, bingo games and other activities, Martinez said. The Senior Center is so busy that in five to 10 years, she said the city may have to build another center or start offering programs at parks and other places.

Seniors also feel at home with the life style in Whittier, a century-old community that is still fighting to remove an adult theater from its Uptown area. Leaders of this city of Quaker roots still emphasize the importance of history, tradition and family values.

“We have encouraged and supported the development of senior complexes for market-rate (non-subsidized) housing,” said Whittier Mayor Gene Chandler. “We have a soft spot in our hearts for the seniors and try to do anything we can for them.”

Another of Whittier’s apparent advantages, although largely unspoken, is that its population is exceedingly white. Whittier is about 85% white, and a 1985 survey of the Whittier Senior Center showed that 89% of its members were white, Martinez said.

Developers would not comment on the race factor, but acknowledged privately that it does contribute to Whittier’s image as a safe, crime-free community in the minds of business people and developers.

Chandler said the percentage of white seniors does not indicate racism, but simply reflects Whittier’s demographics. “It’s Caucasians that have lived here a long time and grown up here, while the Mexican population is much newer,” Chandler said. “As time goes on, you will see more Mexican-Americans that are seniors.”

Although Whittier’s image and services make it attractive, housing options are limited for low- and moderate-income seniors.

Monthly rents at senior complexes are $1,000 to $1,500 for a private apartment, including meals, social activities, transportation and maid service. At the only low-income project in town, the 15-year-old Lutheran Towers, there is a five-year waiting list for studio apartments, manager Marilyn Selof said.

Lutheran Towers residents pay 30% of their income as rent, but the federally subsidized complex only accepts seniors whose income is less than $12,500 a year. Caught in the middle are those seniors who cannot afford the expensive private complexes and those unable to qualify--or wait--for a Lutheran Towers opening.

“That’s what scares me. I’m going to be one of those people one day,” Selof said. Unless the government raises its income ceiling for low-income projects, “we’re going to have to save like crazy for the next few years and buy a mobile home or something,” she said.

The First Friends Church and the city have been trying to arrange financing for another 75-unit low-income senior complex in the Uptown area, but the project has been mired in bureaucracy for four years. City officials are uncertain when construction will begin.

Martinez said the Senior Center staff recently compiled a referral list of senior housing complexes after about 350 people called there last year seeking housing information. The Oct. 1 earthquake compounded the problem, destroying a substantial amount of Whittier’s low-income housing for all segments of the community, she said.

“Even if (the seniors) have a place to live, they’re looking for a place that’s less expensive,” Martinez said.

And that is the gap that the private developers at Circle T and Calmark hope to fill with their $450- to $650-a-month apartment complexes.

“There’s a definite shortage in having housing in a nice area that’s affordable,” said Middlebrook of Circle T, which plans to break ground in December for Whittier Court on Penn Street between Union and Whittier avenues.

“I don’t know if your grandmother can afford to live (in a $1,500-a-month apartment),” she said, “but mine can’t.”

However, Harris of Chateau Whittier said the higher price is really “a bargain” because it includes three meals a day, housecleaning, social activities and transportation--eliminating the need for car expenses and insurance.

Before even opening its model apartments a few weeks ago, Chateau Whittier pre-leased more than 60% of its units, Harris said. “That’s outstanding, which points to the demand for this kind of housing,” he said.

‘Island Within an Island’

Chateau Whittier will join the city’s most popular area for senior housing, the 18-block Uptown business district, which Harris calls “the island within the island of Whittier.”

Five of the city’s 12 retirement facilities and convalescent homes are in the Uptown redevelopment project area, and the completion of Chateau Whittier and three other projects in the works will boost that number to nine. Whittier’s closest numerical competitor for senior housing is Norwalk, which has one retirement home and four convalescent hospitals.

Mike Vurnham, a senior planner in Whittier, cautions that developers may have overestimated the demand for senior housing in Whittier. “They’re going to have to draw people from the outside to fill those units,” Vurnham said.

Assistant City Manager Robert Griego said he did not believe the housing projects would conflict with the city’s goal of bringing more upscale shops to the earthquake-shattered Uptown district.

“Hopefully we can come up with a specific plan (for rebuilding Uptown) that will consider the needs of seniors,” he said.

Uptown merchants welcome the senior projects because it means increased foot traffic in their shops, said Lane Langford, owner of Bookland and president of the Uptown Assn. “This is nothing but positive for the Uptown area,” he said, adding that about one-fourth of his customers are seniors.

“Some of my most charming customers are the elderly,” Langford said. “I just love ‘em.”

Given the growing senior population in Whittier and across the nation, people are going to have to accept new ways of dealing with the housing and health-care needs of older people, said Carolyn Horrell, president of Investment Property Management Inc. of Whittier, which manages senior projects exclusively.

“The hardest nut to crack has been educating people that this is not warehousing of seniors,” Horrell said. “It is a viable alternative to family-oriented housing.”