Seniors Organize to Keep Their Housing

Unsure whether they could continue living in rent-subsidized apartments if their landlords sold their apartment building, a senior citizens tenants’ group from Sylmar decided to take control.

After being informed in March that the owners of Valley Pride Retirement Village planned to sell, the 80-plus senior citizen residents there--none of whom is younger than 62, all of whom have disabilities--began organizing. They formed a tenants’ group, applied for nonprofit status and began exploring the possibility of purchasing the tidy apartment complex themselves.

The owners of Valley Pride, who obtained a low-interest, 40-year mortgage from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development 20 years ago, this year opted to prepay the rest of the mortgage and sell the property. But because the building provides federal Section 8 rental subsidies to its tenants, the owners are required to first offer to sell the building to the residents or another nonprofit organization representing the residents, housing officials said.

Valley Pride tenant leader Don Henkel said most tenants first wanted to buy the building themselves. But after taking a hard look at finances, tenants changed their minds and decided to seek help from Ecumenical Assn. for Housing, a San Rafael-based nonprofit agency.

“We felt that, because we’re an older group, really we didn’t want to own the building, but we would like to have a little more say in what goes on here,” Henkel said. “We’re working to salvage our home. It’s not HUD that’s doing this, it’s Congress. Apartment buildings all over the state are in jeopardy of losing HUD funding.”

Henkel said the current owners are asking about $2.5 million for the 88-unit building. Under a federal low-income housing preservation law passed in 1990, the Ecumenical Assn. for Housing can apply for HUD funds to purchase the building.