Affordable Housing Project That Led to Recall Gets OK : Development: New officeholders clear the way for building of 126 townhomes and condominiums, set to begin construction this summer.
A church-based nonprofit development company has received approval from the Bell Gardens City Council to begin building 126 affordable housing units in an area where at least 75% of the residents are renters.
Nehemiah West Housing Corp. is scheduled to begin construction by early summer on the $13-million project, which became embroiled in the zoning controversy that led to the recall of four City Council members in December.
The gated complex, called Nehemiah West, is a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroom townhomes and condominiums and will be built on a 4.71-acre site at Gage and Garfield avenues on the city’s eastern border.
The housing project was first approved last fall by the embattled City Council, which also had approved a zoning measure designed to decrease the population in Bell Gardens. The activist No Rezoning Committee questioned why the council would bring in a high-density housing project after approving the unpopular measure to restrict the number of units that could be built in the city.
The zoning measure eventually led to the recall of the council members, who were replaced by candidates backed by the No Rezoning Committee. City Manager Claude Booker, who laid much of the groundwork with officials at Nehemiah West Housing Corp., was fired by the new council.
The final fate of the housing project was not known until the council’s unanimous approval last Thursday.
“There are still some mixed feelings on the council about the project,” said Interim City Manager William Vasquez. “There is concern about the density and about security. Some people would rather see single-family homes.”
But Vasquez, who was appointed in March to temporarily take Booker’s place, said the project is a “unique opportunity to create jobs and housing for people who really need it,” and he urged the City Council to approve it.
Project developer Loren Bloch of Community Dynamics in Santa Monica said Nehemiah representatives had met with the current council members throughout their campaigns. “At the earliest stages of the project, they were not fully informed,” Bloch said. “We felt quite confident that once they knew more about it, they would be in favor of it.”
The Nehemiah West development plans are based on the Nehemiah Housing Project in New York City, where more than 2,500 homes were built in the late 1980s and sold to low-income families for less than $50,000 each.
In 1989, the Nehemiah West Housing Corp. was created by members of the South Central Organizing Committee and United Neighborhoods Organization to provide affordable housing in Los Angeles. It is affiliated with the Roman Catholic and Episcopal dioceses.
In 1989, a Nehemiah West development was proposed and rebuffed in Compton. Last summer the group received initial approval from the Los Angeles City Council to build 316 townhomes in South-Central Los Angeles. That construction has yet to begin because a site has not been secured.
Funding for the Bell Gardens project comes from a variety of sources, including $3 million from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which has also pledged to raise an additional $4.8 million from other churches in the Los Angeles area.
More than 700 Bell Gardens residents have expressed interest in buying one of the units, which will be available to first-time homeowners whose annual household income is between $18,000 and $24,000.
The least expensive unit, a 900-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bathroom condominium, will be sold for $89,434, but with the aid of state and local subsidies, home buyers will pay only $51,060, according to preliminary cost estimates for the project. With a down payment of $4,472, the monthly payment, including mortagage costs, insurance, taxes and homeowner fees, would be $505.
The most expensive unit is a four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bathroom townhome that will sell for $122,054, costing the buyer $83,680 and requiring a $6,103 down payment and $817 a month.
The average rent in Bell Gardens is close to $650 a month, according to the 1990 census.
A subsidy of $20,437 per unit will come from the Century Freeway Housing Program, a state fund established to replace homes demolished by the freeway project, and another $7,937 per unit from the Bell Gardens redevelopment agency. A $10,000 subsidy per unit will come from other state funds pending approval.
Proposed financing through Great Western Savings Bank would provide a 7% fixed rate to buyers on a 30-year mortgage.
“When you have this combination of funding sources, it creates the kind of situation that can put Bell Gardens in the forefront of creating a great model community for affordable housing,” said City Manager Vasquez.
Vasquez said that although the development is not restricted to Bell Gardens residents, they will get first priority, especially those who were displaced by redevelopment projects.
A lottery will be used to select approved buyers when the project is finished in June, 1993, Vasquez said.
NEXT STEP
A sign-up sheet for the Nehemiah West project is at Bell Gardens City Hall, 7100 S. Garfield Ave. Detailed information will be mailed to all those requesting it as the project nears completion.
