San Fernando Valley : Group Seeks Funds for Low-Cost Homes

A nonprofit group plans to build 30 affordable single-family houses in Lake View Terrace to sell to low-income residents in conjunction with the city Housing Authority.

If approved by federal housing officials, who fund the local authority, the planned $4.3-million development would be one of the first home ownership projects developed by the authority in cooperation with a nonprofit organization, New Economics for Women, a Los Angeles-based Latina group.

NEW and the housing authority are racing to get necessary city and federal approvals as cutbacks in federal housing funds loom.

“The timing right now is critical,” said Bea Stotzer, president of NEW’s board of directors.

Stotzer, who helped found NEW 10 years ago, is seeking assurances that some funding for organization’s share of the project--estimated at $1.3 million--will be available from the city if the Department of Housing and Urban Development approves the project.