SOUTH-CENTRAL : Low-Rent Housing Is Relief to Families

Sitting on a bench near a recreation area in his South-Central apartment complex, Jorge Mercado remembers the living conditions that he and his family faced just a few weeks ago.

“We showered with buckets because there wasn’t any water pressure. We felt extremely unsafe because the gas water heater was in the kitchen next to the stove with no ventilation,” said Mercado, 32, who is married and has three children younger than 10. “And we were one of the families that lived under the best conditions.”

On Sept. 1, Mercado and his family moved into a three-bedroom apartment in the new, low-income Villa Esperanza Apartments on 28th Street near Maple Avenue and Adams Boulevard. Villa Esperanza is a project launched by Esperanza Community Housing Corp., a nonprofit development agency formed by a coalition of community groups led by Sister Diane Donoghue of St. Vincent Catholic Church.

The project, funded through loans and grants from a variety of lending institutions and government agencies, took two years to complete. Donoghue would not reveal the cost of the project.

On Tuesday, the housing corporation will celebrate the grand opening of Villa Esperanza with a party in the apartment complex’s main patio. The celebration will also mark nine years of community efforts to thwart construction of a garment factory, which was to stand where the housing project is today.

Most of the families that moved into Villa Esperanza, which has 33 units of three or four bedrooms and two bathrooms, lived in single-room apartments, said Melanie Stephens, project director of the housing corporation.

The families were chosen from 600 applicants. Villa Esperanza primarily selected families that had lived in extremely overcrowded conditions in the immediate area, Stephens said.

Of the 33 families who have moved or will soon move into the apartments, all but three lived in the area, with 26 of the families coming from within a 10-block radius. Fifteen families moved from single-room units, another 15 from one-bedroom apartments and three lived in two-bedroom apartments.

Rents for Villa Esperanza units range from $355 to $525. Most of the families have six to eight members and have a monthly household income of $1,200 to $1,500.

Many of the homes in the area are dilapidated houses originally constructed as duplexes around the turn of the century. Most of these homes were converted into eight- or 10-unit apartments or boarding houses, Stephens said.

“We’ve always lived in this area, and now our standard of living has increased by at least 90%,” said Mercado, a garment worker. The last apartment he and his family lived in, he said, had a grimy, 12-year-old carpet and there was no running water in the toilet or bathroom sink.

Now his family enjoys the amenities of a modern home, including an ample kitchen with proper ventilation and a garbage disposal, he said. Most of the apartments are furnished with “granny suites,” units designed to accommodate members an extended family, such as a grandparent.

In addition to offering affordable housing, Villa Esperanza will serve as a gathering center for the surrounding community. The complex includes a child care center, classrooms for adult education and a large community room. Last Thursday, villa tenants met to select 500 books donated by the Los Angeles Public Library for the center’s reading room.

The child care center will be operated by USC’s School for Early Childhood Education, serving 40 children ages 3 to 5. It will also offer Head Start and full-day care. The education center will offer classes in literacy, English as a second language, parenting and home ownership.

“Our goal with this project is not to be a stand-alone project but to have a larger impact in the community, whether they live in our building or in buildings surrounding the neighborhood,” Stephens said. “We don’t want to be a fortress.”

Information: (213) 748-7285.