Plan to Renovate Apartments Denied

Unconvinced that the plan would benefit the city’s poorest workers, the Oxnard City Council has rejected a developer’s bid to use nearly $10 million in bonds to renovate a run-down apartment complex and turn it into affordable housing.

The decision Tuesday evening, which came after months of discussions and consideration, left no one happy. Orange County-based RHC Communities had requested that the city issue the bond money to renovate the 157-unit Mira Loma Apartments on West 5th Street near downtown.

The developer’s proposal would have decreased rents by using bond tax credits and would have subsidized rents for the next 55 years, said David Rose, chief operating officer with RHC Communities, whose parent company purchased the apartments a year ago.

Mira Loma is home to mostly low-income immigrants who work at area farms and in construction. The complex now faces an uncertain future, said the developer.

“I’m shellshocked the city made its decision to not make it affordable housing,” Rose said. Although the rents would have been too high for some of the city’s poorest residents, “it would have been a lot better than what we’re faced with now.”

The apartments will continue to be rented at the market rate, Rose said, although his company may consider investing $2 million to $3 million to turn them into upscale housing. The company is also considering selling the complex, and says it has a potential buyer.

For now, the rents will be increased as necessary to cover operating and repair costs, Rose said. Built in the 1940s, the apartments require constant repair.

Monthly rent at the complex ranges from $825 for a one-bedroom unit to $1,050 for a two-bedroom.

Mira Loma residents said any more rent hikes would be unbearable because of the low wages they earn. About 50 residents and their supporters appeared before the council with signs that read “I pick the food you eat. Where should I live?” and “Low Wages Can’t Pay High Rent.”

Tenant Gabriel Alvarado was forced to leave Mira Loma because it became unaffordable, he said.

“We are people with very low income. We are humble,” Alvarado, one in a stream of residents asking for housing assistance, said in Spanish. “I would like to have help.”

Even with potential rent decreases ranging from $32 to $267 after renovation, many low-income workers still would not have been able to afford to stay at Mira Loma, argued Eileen McCarthy, staff attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance.

“There is no net public benefit” from the developer’s proposal, McCarthy said, because the “affordable” rents proposed did not take into account that the income of current Mira Loma residents is well below 50% of the median county income--the amount that defines a family as “very low income.”

The Ventura County median income is $74,000, while a full-time minimum wage worker can expect to earn no more than $13,500 a year, she said.

That places many Mira Loma families at less than 20% of the median, not just in the “very low income” category but “extremely low income,” McCarthy said. RHC’s plan did not fill the needs of those families, she said.

In rejecting the bond request, the City Council questioned whether the developer’s plan met the needs of poor residents. Councilman Dean Maulhardt also asked why the developer no longer included three- and four-bedroom units in its plans.

Rose said the original plan was not cost-effective and was scaled back to include just renovations on existing units.

Current and former Mira Loma residents said the apartments are in terrible shape.

“I won’t miss the roaches and the mice,” said Denise Caballero, 34, who was recently evicted from her apartment for nonpayment of rent. “The fence is broken, there are rusted nails everywhere. It’s not safe.”

Since the developer acquired the complex in April 2001, the apartments have improved, said Barton Stern, president of Ventura Investment Co., which operates Mira Loma apartments. Some $200,000 has been spent on repairs, he said.

“But it is a work in progress,” Stern said.

Adriana Hernandez lives in a two-bedroom apartment with her husband, daughter and another small family. They pay $997 a month but have few expectations, she said. Hernandez finally gave up on getting her bathroom sink repaired and taped the faucet to keep the children from running water.

In the kitchen, cabinet doors lie next to the pantry, useless after hinges fell off. Outside, the brick fence is in disrepair.

“It’s bad. And the rent is too high,” Hernandez said. “But we’ve looked. Everywhere is the same. There is nowhere to go.”