No Welcome Mat for New Housing Planned in Watts : Community: Santa Ana Pines residents say Habitat for Humanity’s proposal for 41 homes would not be up to the area’s standards.
In almost any other community, the news would be mundane: Residents protest the construction of affordable homes, saying they will decrease property values and bring undesirable elements.
This spat over bargain housing is not being played out in some upscale Los Angeles suburb, however, but in working-class Watts.
Homeowners in the Santa Ana Pines development are complaining that 41 homes, to be built by an organization affiliated with former President Jimmy Carter, are not up to the neighborhood’s standards.
“It smacks of becoming a (housing) project,” says homeowner Julia Warring about the Habitat for Humanity plans.
Work is scheduled to begin in February at the site, near Santa Ana and Alameda streets. Carter was planning to help build the homes with a phalanx of volunteers June 18 to 25. He routinely generates national media attention when he participates in Habitat’s “blitz builds.”
Some neighbors, however, are not eager for the attention.
They moved in three years ago hoping to establish an island of middle-class tranquillity in a beleaguered city center. But their dreams of urban renewal have already hit some snags, such as the 1992 riots that scared some prospective home buyers away.
When Santa Ana Pines made headlines in 1991, it was trumpeted as the first commercial single-family subdivision in Watts since World War II. More than 100 homes valued at $150,000 and up, along with commercial centers, would stretch for blocks and act as counterweights to the drug dealers, prostitutes and vagrants.
But so far, only 26 homes have been built and sold. The developer, Thad Williams, sold two land parcels to Los Angeles County last year for $800,000. In turn, the county donated the lots to Habitat for 31 houses. The 10 others will be on adjacent city property. The Habitat units may average $25,000 less than typical Santa Ana Pines homes.
Santa Ana Pines homeowners say they feel cheated. “It does no good looking at a vacant lot, but if a home is going to depreciate my lot, I don’t want it there,” said Cassandra Warren, who is leading a petition drive calling for full disclosure of any negative impact the project might have on the neighborhood.
Warren has collected more than 150 signatures from merchants and homeowners in Santa Ana Pines and the surrounding neighborhood. She said even businesses feel slighted because the community is not getting what it was promised.
Warren wants the county to draft another environmental impact report because Habitat homes are replacing Santa Ana Pines homes; the county says it is studying the issue.
Warren also alleges that Santa Ana Pines homeowners were notified only after Williams, the county and Habitat cut a deal, something that would not happen in a more affluent neighborhood.
Habitat has responded by saying it will alter plans for the two- to four-bedroom homes. But it is leaving open the possibility of pulling out of the project altogether.
Originally planned with one bathroom, the homes will now feature an additional toilet. Foundations will be bolstered to allow residents to add on second stories. The homes will also include two-car garages and stucco on the front walls. As in most Habitat homes, the other walls will be made of vinyl.
The changes triggered some soul-searching within Habitat because they clashed with the organization’s philosophy of building modest, affordable homes for first-time buyers. Donations and volunteer labor allow Habitat, a Christian-oriented organization, to sell homes with market values of up to $140,000 for about $65,000.
“Houses are for people, not for cars,” says Steve Blinn, vice president of Habitat’s Los Angeles chapter, explaining the organization’s aversion to garages.
Some Santa Ana Pines residents remain skeptical of the Habitat project. “Steve is still looking at the aesthetics,” Warren said of Blinn. “Stucco will not greatly increase the home values.”
Yet local and national Habitat officials say they will continue trying to convince residents that the project will help the community. To that end, they have been holding closed-door meetings with local activists, and public meetings are planned as well.
“I can’t say we’re absolutely committed” to proceeding, said David Snell, in charge of the so-called Jimmy Carter Work Projects. “But I can say we’re absolutely committed to getting the community engaged.”
Carter received a letter from the Watts Labor Community Action Committee expressing concern about the project. According to Snell, Carter wrote back, outlining his reasons for supporting the construction of affordable homes in the area.
“It was hoped that it would represent an opportunity for positive, cooperative action in a community that has had more than its share of difficulties,” Carter wrote, according to Snell.
Carter will make the final decision on the project’s fate. Blinn said the former President “doesn’t want to come into a community where he doesn’t feel he’s welcomed.”
