Homeless to Help Construct Own Housing
Three homeless families will be able to help build their own housing in North Hollywood this fall in what is believed to be the first project of its kind in Los Angeles County.
Adult members of the families will help build a three-unit apartment building in the 6800 block of Gentry Avenue by working 40-hour weeks stacking lumber and performing other unskilled tasks, said Arnold Stalk, executive director of the Los Angeles Family Housing Corp., the nonprofit group developing the housing.
Stalk said he will begin interviewing interested residents of shelters for the homeless next month. Candidates must be from low-income families with no histories of child abuse or neglect, he said.
Construction of the $180,000 project, dubbed Gentry Village, is slated to begin in November and finish by Christmas.
‘Promote Self-Esteem’
Stalk, one of two architects who designed the triplex, said construction costs will not be significantly reduced by having the homeless help out. “The idea is to instill pride and promote self-esteem,” he said. “I want people who live there to feel they helped erect it, so it’s not charity.”
City housing officials and operators of shelters for the homeless said they know of no other housing developments in the county that involve the labor of homeless future tenants.
But the concept has been tried in other areas, including Moorpark, where 62 farm-worker families are building their own homes under a federal program for low-income people.
“We’re interested in seeing how this works out,” said Lester Burg, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. “I think it’s worth doing because it gives people an investment in their homes.”
30-Year Lease
The Gentry Village site is owned by the Redevelopment Agency, which has agreed to lease it for 30 years to the Los Angeles Family Housing Corp., which runs shelters throughout the city, including the San Fernando Valley’s largest, the 125-bed Valley Shelter in North Hollywood.
Under terms of the lease agreement, the nonprofit group will turn over to the city the rents that it receives from tenants, minus maintenance costs.
Tenants will be charged monthly rents of $330 for the two-bedroom unit, $375 for the three-bedroom unit and $425 for the four-bedroom unit. The triplex will house a maximum of 22 people.
“Housing is so expensive in this city that we’ve come to believe that the only way to solve the housing crisis is to provide permanent, affordable housing like Gentry Village, not temporary shelters,” Stalk said.
