Application List Tops 400 for Unbuilt Senior Units

The nearly 40 years that Doris Krug spent as a bank teller and bookkeeper was not enough for her to create a solid nest egg.

Forced to retire in 1991 because of complications stemming from her second bout with cancer, Krug said she uses her entire Social Security check and a portion of her pension to pay her rent. Groceries are purchased with a credit card.

“I feel trapped,” said Krug, now 62. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to me.”

Krug is one of 400 individuals and couples on a waiting list for a spot in the Oak Creek Senior Villas, a 57-unit affordable housing project for people 55 and older that is scheduled to open next year. She has been on the list for six years.

“There’s a desperate need for affordable housing in this community,” said Daniel Hardy, executive director of Many Mansions, the Thousand Oaks-based nonprofit housing agency that will build and operate the complex. “The rents are so high.”

The average cost of a one-bedroom unit in Thousand Oaks is $775, while a two-bedroom apartment rents for about $900, according Mary Mac Leod, Many Mansions’ associate director.

“And my belief is that the rents are on the increase,” she said.

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Many Mansions is set to select a contractor for the $8.4-million Oak Creek project when bids are opened Oct. 17. Construction is scheduled to begin in early 1998.

Federal guidelines suggest that tenants of public housing projects should not pay more than 30% of their monthly income on rent.

Yet nearly 2,000 senior citizens in Thousand Oaks exceed that threshold, according to Olav Hassel, the city’s housing services manager.

In the case of Krug, nearly 70% of her monthly income goes to keep a roof over her head.

She worked for several banks over the years and said her pension plans were terminated when she switched employers. Krug receives only $291 from her last employer, First Interstate Bank in Thousand Oaks, where she spent 19 years.

Krug, who never married, said she receives a total of $1,049 a month in Social Security, pension and long-term disability money. Her rent eats up $725 each month.

Turning to her family is not an option, she said.

Her mother died of colon cancer at 1982. Her oldest sister died of liver cancer three years later. Her father’s heart failed in 1989.

Her other older sister, who lives in the San Fernando Valley, has raised three children and can ill afford to support Krug.

“I just have to keep borrowing,” she said. “It’s a terrible situation. But I’m not alone.”

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Many Mansions said Oak Creek Senior Villas will be funded largely through a low-interest loan provided by the state, which will be repaid through rents received during its first 30 years of operation.

The housing organization also received a $1-million grant from the state and an additional $450,000 from Thousand Oaks’ redevelopment agency.

The complex will be on a two-acre parcel off Thousand Oaks Boulevard east of Boardwalk Avenue.

To be considered a tenant, applicants must be at least 55 years old and fall within state income guidelines for subsidized housing. Individuals cannot receive more than $20,685 per year, while a couple’s income may not exceed $33,096, Mac Leod said.

“Most of them make a heck of a lot less,” she said.

Patricia Hartswick, 70, receives about $1,000 per month in Social Security and alimony.

She said a business manager embezzled or lost about $60,000 of her savings over a 10-year period during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Left with almost nothing, Hartswick is forced to live in subsidized housing in the Shadow Hills Apartments, which is operated by Many Mansions.

Rent for her single-bedroom apartment would normally be $695 per month. Her subsidy brings it down to $510, of which $60 is paid for by her three sons.

“People need to have [affordable housing],” Hartswick said. “It’s a humanitarian thing. I had to start over. But I’m very happy here.”

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Those interested in renting at Oak Creek Senior Villas will have their names placed in a pool. There will be a lottery to select the winning tenants.

The waiting list also applies to two other complexes owned by Many Mansions: Shadow Hills, which has 101 units, and the 29-unit Schillo Gardens Apartments.

Only about 10 units become available each year between the two complexes, according to Mac Leod. Subsidized rents range from $520 to $630 for a one-bedroom unit, $550 to $675 for a two-bedroom unit and $700 to $870 for a three-bedroom unit, she said.

At Oak Creek, tenants of the 46 one-bedroom units will be charged $366 to $625 a month, depending on what they can afford, Hardy said. The 11 two-bedroom units will rent for $725 a month--the average cost of a one-bedroom unit in the city, he said.

He added that 75% of those who work in Thousand Oaks make less than $27,000.

Many Mansions, which was established in 1979, managed the Glenn Oaks Apartments complex on Wilbur Road from 1990 to 1993, when the owner decided to take over management.

Oak Creek Senior Villas will join 10 other affordable housing projects in Thousand Oaks owned and operated by private agencies and the Ventura County Housing Authority. The 10 complexes have a combined 452 units.

Many Mansions officials hoped to open Oak Creek Senior Villas next summer. But with El Nino’s weather conditions expected to drop heavy rains on Ventura County, construction delays are expected.

“When you start a project during the rain [season], it’s the worst time,” Hardy said.