Proposed Shelter to Get $8-Million Loan

A long-delayed homeless shelter proposed for former naval housing property in Long Beach is expected to receive a boost today with the announcement of an $8-million loan that would pay for most of the project’s construction costs.

The money would pay for roadwork and rehabilitation of existing buildings near the 26-acre site at Pacific Coast Highway and the Terminal Island Freeway, said Allan Kingston, head of the Century Housing Corp., a Culver City-based housing assistance group that provided the loan.

Originally approved by the Navy in 1994, plans to offer up to 800 units of transitional housing to homeless individuals and families have encountered various financial problems. The current blueprints call for Inglewood-based L.A. Vets to develop and sublet the land to various social service agencies.

A spokesman for L.A. Vets said that although more funds are needed to complete the $13-million project, negotiations are underway to begin construction as soon as the fall.

When finished, the housing project will be one of several new uses of the 101-acre property left vacant when the Navy moved out in 1991. A new high school opened on the site last year, and other plans call for a university research plant and a job training center.

Kingston said the loan would be repaid over 10 years or longer by agencies operating different portions the facility.