Simi Increases Funds for Seniors Complex : Affordable housing: The decision to provide an additional $384,096 will allow construction to begin in a few months.

The Simi Valley City Council has decided to provide an additional $384,096 toward development of a 75-unit affordable apartment complex for the elderly.

Despite bickering among officials over the cost to the city, the council voted 4 to 0 late Monday to approve the allocation, bringing the city’s total contribution to the development to $877,146.

The council’s decision will allow construction to begin within the next few months, said Dulce-Conde Sierra of the city’s Department of Environmental Services.

The Atlanta-based Christian Senior Housing Foundation will use the money to construct a $6.6-million senior citizens apartment complex on Heywood Street just west of Erringer Road. The foundation will receive more than $5.6 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the project.

The group had originally requested $493,050 from the city. But foundation officials told the council that additional money was needed because HUD will not pay for certain amenities required under city building codes, such as carports, tile roofs and balconies.

Councilman Michael Piper expressed concern about the city committing such a large amount to a project during tough economic times. He pointed out that the city has imposed a hiring freeze and has cut back on equipment purchases.

“If we do this, where do we draw the line?” Piper asked. “I don’t want us to think we have an endless bucket of funds.”

But council members Judy Mikels and Bill Davis defended the project, saying the HUD money would be lost if the city did not support the development. Both also said that in a city with about 8,000 elderly residents, there are only 86 apartments set aside for very low-income seniors.

Residents of the new apartment building will only be required to pay about 30% of their annual income for rent, city officials said.

“It’s too valuable a project to take a chance on losing it,” Mikels said. “It’s a great bargain for what we’re putting into it.”

Mikels said the city is partly to blame for driving up the cost of the project. She said city building codes are too stringent on aesthetic requirements. The councilwoman said she was especially incensed by the cost of carports--estimated at a total of $300,000--required for the apartment building.

“Our community did that because anything less was not good enough,” Mikels said. “As long as we continue our elitism, our snobbism and our unwillingness to accommodate the less fortunate in the community . . . we are going to continue to have unaffordable projects.”

The city’s original $493,050 contribution was taken from city redevelopment funds, which by law must be spent on affordable-housing projects. The additional money will come from the city’s senior citizen rent subsidy program, which is also financed by redevelopment money.

Every year for the past four years, the city has budgeted $279,000 to fund a program that helps pay the rent of low-income senior citizens while they wait to get into federal assistance programs.

The city helps 50 senior citizen households at a time under the program, the only one of its kind in the county. There are more than 100 people on a waiting list to apply for city rental assistance, officials said.

Council members agreed Monday that once the new apartment complex is built, relieving some of the need for low-cost housing, the city will cut back its rental assistance program to 40 senior citizens. This would save the city $50,000 to $60,000 a year.

Mayor Greg Stratton declared a conflict of interest and did not vote. The project would be built near Simi Valley Hospital, where Stratton sits on the board of directors.