SANTA ANA : City Pledges $900,000 to Housing Group

The City Council and Redevelopment Agency has pledged $900,000 to the nonprofit Civic Center Barrio Housing Corporation to buy and renovate 18 blighted apartments on West Myrtle Street and train residents to manage them.

More than $400,000 in federal funds controlled by the city will be spent to buy and administer the three six-unit buildings in the 1900 and 2000 blocks of West Myrtle Street, according the council’s decision this week. Another $470,000 in redevelopment money earmarked for low- and moderate-income housing will pay for repairs, city Housing Manager Patricia Whittaker said.

“The ultimate goal would be to help Civic Center Barrio control as much of that block as possible,” Whittaker said.

The nonprofit housing group will train residents to be on-site managers and help tenants with child care and job training, Whittaker said. The program is an effort to turn neighborhoods around and address the root causes of crime and blight, she said.

In 1992, the city received a U.S. Department of Justice “Weed and Seed” grant to help tackle crime in its most troubled neighborhoods and develop social programs there. Myrtle Street was one of the highest crime areas in the city and the impetus for the grant application, according to city officials.

The vast majority of the grant was spent on “weeding,” but the Civic Center Barrio project approved this week begins to address the “seeding” of the area. Civic Center Barrio hopes to ultimately own 96 apartments on that stretch of Myrtle Street and train resident managers for them, city officials said.

No current residents will be evicted, Whittaker said.

In a separate vote, the council approved $320,000 in grants to Westminster-based American Lodging--the transitional housing arm of Shelter for the Homeless--for the purchase of a 10-unit building at 406 W. Washington Ave. in Santa Ana.

Tenants, formerly homeless, will pay a modest amount of rent and receive case management and job-hunting assistance as they work their way back into stable living situations, Whittaker said.