Loan Subsidies at Townhouse Development

The East Los Angeles Community Union expects to finish the first phase of City View Terrace, its 106-unit townhouse development at the former site of City View Hospital in Lincoln Heights, by early March.

With help from the Century Freeway Housing Program, the development will offer qualified first-time homeowners subsidized home loans. The Century Freeway Project will fund a “silent second” mortgage of up to $50,000, said TELACU President David C. Lizarraga.

On a $150,000 townhouse, for example, the Century Freeway program could fund $50,000, leaving the buyers to finance $100,000 and lowering the down payment. The amount funded from the freeway program, plus 3% interest, will not be due for 30 years or upon sale of the home.

“The purpose, really, of our housing division is to provide housing opportunities for regular people in our community,” Lizarraga said. “There are people who have lived and rented all their lives and built up no equity. The problem is getting that first house, and getting that down payment is pretty tough, so they never do.”

The $16-million development, on five acres at 3711 Baldwin Ave., will offer several floor plans. City View Terrace is the second development of its kind by the 25-year-old organization, which has also put up six senior citizen housing apartment complexes and 1 million square feet of industrial space.