$500,000 Invested by KTLA in Housing Fund for Hollywood

City Councilman Michael Woo on Friday announced the formation of a nonprofit housing corporation to bring desperately needed affordable housing to Hollywood.

The project will be backed with an initial investment of $500,000 from KTLA, one of the first entertainment firms in the city to finance low-cost housing.

The KTLA investment, which will bring the company substantial tax credits under federal law, could help attract investments from other entertainment firms and Hollywood-based companies, Woo said.

Michael Eigner, vice president and station manager at KTLA, said the company has been in Hollywood “over 40 years and we feel there are times when it is our duty to pay something back to the neighborhood.”

Need Millions More

Woo said the Hollywood Community Housing Corp., the nonprofit group that will oversee development of the housing, would need “millions and millions” of dollars to build all the housing that is necessary.

He said more investments are badly needed in Hollywood because a current boom in apartment construction is filling the area with luxury apartments that many Hollywood-area employees and residents cannot afford.

The $500,000 was raised by the Local Initiatives Support Corp., a nonprofit group that persuades California corporations to back housing projects statewide in exchange for tax credits. The KTLA funds will be earmarked for Hollywood-area projects.

Anita Landecker of the Local Initiatives Support Corp. said KTLA’s investment is a strong start but more money is needed.

Woo said $2 million that the Community Redevelopment Agency was required to set aside as replacement funds for units it tore down on Bunker Hill many years ago will also be diverted for use in Hollywood.

Will Pressure CRA

In addition, the Hollywood Project Area Committee, a citizen advisory group involved in planning the redevelopment of Hollywood, intends to press the CRA for substantial redevelopment funds specifically earmarked for housing.

Ann Sewell, an expert on low-cost housing who is helping with the formation of the Hollywood Community Housing Corp., said Hollywood currently contains 10% of the city’s rental stock, but “much of it is substandard and overcrowded. . . . The housing is so overcrowded that development of new low-cost housing is imperative.”