ANAHEIM : Renovated Apartments to Serve as Prototype

In a campaign to revitalize a troubled neighborhood, city officials and representatives of a housing charity today will open a newly renovated apartment complex, the prototype for future efforts in central Anaheim.

Delia’s Apartments, a 12-unit building at 1107 N. Citron St., is in a neighborhood plagued with gang activity, overcrowding, drug dealing, vandalism and other urban ills.

“It’s a very deteriorated neighborhood,” city Housing Manager Bertha Chavoya said. “The main problem we have found is that there are a number of complexes with no on-site management.”

Requiring developers to provide such managers will be a key element of the city’s plan to revitalize more than 180 apartment units over the next 12 to 16 months, Chavoya said. The city also will increase the number of play areas for children.

About 40% of the neighborhood’s residents will be relocated, Chavoya said, as part of the city’s efforts to mitigate overcrowding.

Money for the $400,000 renovation at Delia’s Apartments came from federal funds received by the city of Anaheim and from private financing obtained by the nonprofit Orange County Community Housing Corp., which acquired the complex in December, 1993.

The Santa Ana-based charity is dedicated to providing low-cost, uncrowded housing for low-income families. The organization will rent out the two-bedroom apartments for $400 to $550 a month.