Simi Senior Citizens Find Their Bit of Paradise at New Complex : Housing: Residents of the low-income apartment facility say they like the views, community room and camaraderie.

The bedrooms at Heywood Gardens are barely large enough for a bed and small dresser, the kitchens are too small for a table, and sofas make the narrow living rooms seem cramped.

But the residents of the long-awaited Simi Valley apartment complex for low-income seniors don’t seem to mind.

“Where I was before I came here doesn’t even come close,” Edward Sandouk, 80, said. “When I found out I got in here I dropped on my knees and thanked God.”

More than eight years in the planning, apartments in the $6.4-million, 75-unit complex were awarded last month by lottery from a pool of 350 applicants.

“Some were living in subsidized housing but were still paying a lot, some were in trailers, one was living in a car,” said Bob Lippman, chairman of the Simi Valley Council on Aging. “Heywood Gardens has gone a long way in meeting our most urgent need.”

The completion of Heywood Gardens boosts the number of low-income rental units for senior citizens in Simi Valley by more than 25%, to 289.

But federal law requires that subsidized housing not be limited to residents in the immediate area, so about half the tenants are from Simi Valley and half are from other parts of Ventura County and from Los Angeles County.

The project, developed by the nonprofit Atlanta-based Christian Senior Housing Foundation, was funded with a loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and $877,000 from the Simi Valley Community Redevelopment Agency.

“The city doesn’t normally put such a large amount of money into a development project,” said Dulce Conde-Sierra, deputy director of housing and special projects. “But the city felt there was a need to help low-income seniors, so they gave it everything they could.”

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Residents of the three-story, four-acre complex proudly point out their views of the neighboring Rancho Simi Community Park, with its bike trails and duck-filled lake.

They enthuse over the large community room, with its upright piano and Queen Anne-style furniture, overlooking a field of poppies. They speak thankfully of the camaraderie of the tenants and of the lenient rules which allow them to keep a cat or small dog.

“The last place I lived had walls around it that were eight feet high,” Sylvia Rosenzweig, 72, said. “I felt like I was in a prison.”

At Heywood Gardens, the retired hairstylist enjoys sunsets and sweeping mountain vistas from the balcony of her third-floor corner apartment.

“It’s my biggest pleasure,” Rosenzweig said, gazing out at the view. “I take pictures of it because it’s so beautiful.”

Martha Arcos, 73, moved to Heywood Gardens from an apartment in Thousand Oaks. “I lived there three years and my neighbors barely said hello to me,” the retired medical assistant said. “Here, you’re not lonely because there’s always someone around you can talk to.”

Heywood Gardens tenants pay one-third of their income in rent, Conde-Sierra said. Residents with no income pay nothing, while others who make as much as $18,000 a year pay up to $500 a month.

“Many of these people are on a fixed income and were paying half of it in rent,” Lippman said. “Now they have enough to eat a little better, buy new clothes, that sort of thing.”

There are still many seniors in need of affordable housing, Conde-Sierra said.

The city closed its waiting list for a federal rent-subsidy program three years ago. The names of 57 seniors remain on the list.

The city in 1989 implemented its own senior rent-subsidy program with funds from the redevelopment agency. The program, which helps about 50 seniors pay for their housing, was designed specifically to give financial aid to seniors waiting for federal assistance.

Even so, “we don’t really have an accurate gauge of the need,” Conde-Sierra said. “But we know it’s more than we can accommodate.”

A tightening of federal housing subsidies may make it difficult to fund future developments, Conde-Sierra said.

FYI

Heywood Gardens is celebrating its completion with an open house on Jan. 21 from noon to 2 p.m. at 1770 Heywood St. in Simi Valley. The public is invited, but please call 722-2122 in advance.