Food-Bank Expands Into Housing

Hope-Net, an interfaith distributor of free food to the poor in the Mid-Wilshire area, is heading a partnership to build and manage an apartment building for low-income families.

With support from the Los Angeles Community Design Center, the Los Angeles Housing Department and a mix of private and public funding sources, Hope-Net broke ground in October on a $2.9-million, 17-unit apartment building in the Mid-City area on West Boulevard between Pico and Olympic boulevards.

Each unit will have three bedrooms and two bathrooms and will be reserved for families of four to six with annual household incomes of less than $25,000. Details of the application and selection process have yet to be worked out, said Larry Hixon, Hope-Net’s executive director. He expects the building to be done in nine months.