For the Dying, Places to Live : The death of his companion of 12 years helped motivate Jack Plimpton to start Project New Hope, which builds affordable housing for AIDS sufferers.

The Rev. Robert Kettelhack’s predicament in 1986 was similar to that of many patients admitted to County/USC Medical Center’s AIDS ward.

Unable to work because of his illness, Kettelhack, an Episcopal priest, had little income to help pay his medical bills. His insurance company had canceled his policy, saying his AIDS was a preexisting condition. Because of the insurance company’s decision, Kettelhack eventually lost most of his assets as he struggled to cover his expenses.

Jack Plimpton, Kettelhack’s companion of 12 years, spent many hours with Kettelhack at the hospital, and found that many of the AIDS patients there had nowhere else to go. Most spent their days in bed, Plimpton said, watching television and contemplating death.

Plimpton decided then that he would find a way to help people living with HIV and AIDS.

A retired Los Angeles school principal, Plimpton, 63, began pursuing his decision in earnest after Kettelhack’s death in 1989.

In 1990, along with the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, Plimpton helped found Project New Hope, a nonprofit organization that builds affordable housing for AIDS sufferers and provides job training for those who are able to work.

It is the only nonprofit organization in the Los Angeles area dedicated to building new housing for AIDS patients, according to church officials. Constructing apartments helps AIDS patients without duplicating the efforts of other agencies, officials said.

Next month, Project New Hope will open its first complex, the Norland Apartments in Hollywood, a renovated building with four one-bedroom and 12 studio apartments. The group leases the site from ShelterPlus, a nonprofit organization that provides living space for the homeless.

Project New Hope expects to finish construction in 1997 on similar sites in San Pedro and Silver Lake and on an expansive 25-unit facility on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. Health care services will be available through AIDS agencies in near the apartment buildings.

“We want people to live with dignity for as long as they can,” said Plimpton, executive director of the project. Plimpton also runs the diocese’s AIDS ministries.

The $8.3 million to build the apartments came from grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Community Redevelopment Agency and church sources. But the group needs private donations to furnish the apartments.

To get the project started, Plimpton waded through seemingly endless permit applications and zoning laws, while continuing to provide assistance to hospital patients and their families.

“The biggest problems are the NIMBYs,” residents who do not want an AIDS housing development in their backyard, Plimpton said. “We have an awful lot of people who need AIDS 101; they don’t understand it.”

But Plimpton learned to battle local criticism of the group’s projects. Sonia Jimenez, a deputy for Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, said she was surprised by how effectively Plimpton had calmed community misgivings about the construction of a 14-unit apartment building in Silver Lake last fall.

Plimpton used a local architect to design the complex and consulted community members in meetings before the project was started. Except for concerns about parking that were resolved, no opposition developed, Jimenez said. Goldberg helped the organization secure a loan for the Silver Lake building.

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Many supporters say New Hope owes much of its success to Plimpton.

“It takes someone with his commitment to keep us on top of things,” said Carmen Guerrero, archdeacon for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

“He’s not just a bureaucrat, he’s not just the person who writes the grants,” Guerrero said. “He holds us to the fire.”

Plimpton organizes concerts, marches and candlelight vigils, Guerrero said. He finds help for families who run into trouble dealing with AIDS, and he accompanies priests and prays with patients at their bedsides. Occasionally, he helps fulfill last wishes and assists with funeral arrangements.

Project New Hope hopes to expand its efforts into the south Los Angeles and Compton areas in order to reach minority communities. Plimpton said the organization will work with local leaders, develop counseling programs and build housing.

To help AIDS patients survive on their own for as long as possible, Project New Hope in 1993 established the Trinity Learning Center, which is run with the aid of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Located in the Silver Lake area, the center offers computer training to HIV-infected individuals who have lost their jobs or need help finding one. Many who finish the program find full- or part-time jobs, some working for the government and others for such corporations as Bank of America.

Plimpton said he hopes the work of Project New Hope will lift the morale of AIDS patients. “Instead of dying, they’ll think about living,” he said.

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The Beat

Today’s centerpiece focuses on Project New Hope, founded by Jack Plimpton and the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles to provide housing for people with AIDS and HIV. To get involved or to make a donation to the organization, call (213) 580-9977.