PACOIMA : Council OKs Loan for 8 Townhouses

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday voted to make a $312,000 loan to help finance eight Pacoima townhouses to be owned by poor families willing to help build the residences.

The recipient of the loan is the San Fernando Valley chapter of Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit international group whose most famous volunteer is former President Jimmy Carter.

The Community Redevelopment Agency loan, approved without debate, will help finance the first in the city for the group and will cost a total of $1.4 million. The project is at 10906 Laurel Canyon Blvd.

Families selected to buy the units will be required to put in 500 hours of “sweat equity” into the project, including 150 hours of labor on another family’s unit. Work by the future owners plus labor and materials to be donated by others will allow the units to be sold for $50,000 for a two-bedroom unit and $62,500 for a four-bedroom unit.