HOLLYWOOD : Low-Income Housing Project Prepares to Open

Move-in day is approaching at the Carlton Apartments, a recently completed 24-unit complex for low-income families that housing officials hope will stabilize a multiethnic neighborhood racked by gang activity, the 1992 riots and the Northridge earthquake.

Monthly rents, which are adjusted for tenant income, range from $343 for a two-bedroom unit to $775 for a four-bedroom unit. The first tenants will move in by the end of this month.

“This neighborhood is (made up of) mostly low-income people trying to work hard, study and get jobs,” said Heidi Guyldarian, a 25-year-old Armenian immigrant who has been hired as resident manager of the complex near Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue. “A lot of people lost their homes in the Northridge earthquake. Projects like this help keep kids off the street, and will be better for parents, too.”

The nonprofit Hollywood Community Housing Corp. developed the project, which cost just under $4 million, according to executive director Jack Gardner. Most of the budget came from the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles and Mission First Financial, a subsidiary of the Southern California Edison Corp. The housing corporation has 10 other low-income housing sites in various phases of completion.

“Hollywood has a lot of low-income families living in severely overcrowded facilities,” Gardner said. “Sometimes there are eight to 12 people crammed into a studio, often a slum unit. . . . A lot of households have been doubled and tripled up in other units since the earthquake.”

Even so, Gardner said that the Carlton Apartments will probably mark the end of his organization’s efforts to build new multiunit housing in Hollywood, partly because of concerns over high construction costs. Some community groups had criticized the Carlton project as too expensive.

In the future, Gardner said, his organization will focus on renovating foreclosed and other existing properties, which is generally cheaper than building from scratch.

The Carlton Apartments complex includes a rooftop sun deck, landscaped courtyard, laundry room, underground parking and a children’s playground.

Gardner said that 1,500 applications were received for the 24 available units. A lottery was held last month to help establish tenant priority, with special preference going to the homeless, displaced and people paying more than 50% of their monthly income in rent, he said.