Nonprofit Sponsors Honored for Low-Income Housing Innovations
The nonprofit sponsors of three California housing developments, including one in Los Angeles and another in Ventura County, have been honored for their innovative approaches to meeting the housing needs of low-income persons in urban and rural communities.
The groups were honored by the Fannie Mae Foundation at its third annual Awards of Excellence celebration. The foundation was created by the Federal National Mortgage Assn. (Fannie Mae), a congressionally chartered company and the nation’s largest investor in home mortgages.
The foundation awarded grants of $25,000 each to Las Familias Del Pueblo and Skid Row Housing Trust, which will share an award for a housing development in Los Angeles; Cabrillo Economic Development Corp. in Saticoy, Ventura County, and Bernal Heights Community Foundation and BRIDGE Housing Corp., who will share an award for a housing development in San Francisco.
Three other housing projects sponsored by nonprofit groups in Arizona, Indiana and New York also were selected from 101 applications received from 32 states and the District of Columbia to receive Awards of Excellence.
“These awards recognize the vital and innovative work being done by locally based, urban and rural organizations all over the country to preserve and rehabilitate existing housing and to construct new housing for the benefit of lower income Americans,” said James A. Johnson, chairman and chief executive officer of Fannie Mae.
Las Familias Del Pueblo, a social service provider in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles, created the Skid Row Housing Trust to coordinate the acquisition, rehabilitation and operation of the Pershing/Roma Hotel project.
The project is a rehabilitation of two historic, three-story hotels that have been converted into a 69-unit, single room occupancy (SRO), permanent housing facility with commercial space on the first floor. The hotel currently rents to very-low-income men and women, including formerly homeless, disabled and senior citizens.
Volunteers from All Saints Episcopal Church and Leo Baeck Temple helped with the rehabilitation work and, after construction, provided furnishings, social services and in-depth counseling for the project’s tenants.
Organized in 1983, Las Familias Del Pueblo provides services to the families of Los Angeles’ Skid Row and to workers in the adjacent Garment District. These services include relocation assistance, language education, public health classes, legal clinics, and day-care services.
Skid Row Housing Trust was incorporated in 1989 to develop and operate low-income SRO housing in Skid Row. The trust manages 100 units and currently is developing an additional 675 units. It also provides loans and technical assistance to other nonprofit, low-income housing groups.
Rancho Sespe Farm Worker Family Housing, located in the Ventura County community of Saticoy, is the result of a 10-year legal battle led by Cabrillo Economic Development Corp. to house local farm workers. In 1979 Rancho Sespe, a grower-owned farm labor camp, was sold, and the farm worker families were without housing.
CEDC organized the farm workers into a nonprofit organization called Rancho Sespe Workers Improvement Assn. Corp. and secured a replacement project which, over the objections of property owners surrounding the new site, was reaffirmed by the State Court of Appeals. This was one of the longest eviction defense cases in California appellate history.
The new Rancho Sespe is a 20-acre community of 100 units built in two phases. It includes a community and child-care center. The project is owned by the farm workers’ nonprofit association and the units are rented to the farm worker families.
Cabrillo Economic Development Corp. was founded in 1981 to enhance the economic status of low- and moderate-income persons residing in Ventura County by developing affordable housing and commercial/industrial ventures. CEDC currently is managing eight projects totaling 622 units.
Bernal Heights Community Foundation, a San Francisco neighborhood-based organization, convinced the Standard Brands Paint Co. that the site of their new store was a good opportunity for a mixed-use development. After arranging for the donation of the air rights above the store, BHCF and BRIDGE Housing Corp. jointly designed and built Coleridge Park Homes, a 49-unit apartment complex for senior citizens and the disabled. They also designed a neighborhood park next to the site.
BRIDGE took the lead in the financing, using low-income housing tax credits, and technical design of the project. BHCF ensured the support of the neighborhood and city leaders in gaining approval for this in-fill development.
Coleridge Park represents the first air rights agreement between a privately held company and a nonprofit housing developer.
The Bernal Heights Community Foundation was founded in 1978 by Bernal Heights residents to empower people in efforts to preserve the ethnic, cultural and economic diversity of their community. The organization has been involved in producing more than 53 units of housing in the past five years.
BRIDGE Housing Corp. was incorporated in 1983 with the sponsorship of the Bay Area Council to produce large volumes of high-quality homes for families earning $12,000 to $25,000 annually. It has participated in the development of more than 4,000 units valued at over $350 million.
