Mayor Pledges $51 Million to Build Affordable Housing

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced Monday that the city would spend nearly $51 million this year to increase the supply of affordable housing.

The money, from a city trust fund, would be combined with state and private dollars to build 14 low-rent apartment complexes in Hollywood, Echo Park, South Los Angeles, Pico-Union, Sylmar and other areas.

“The housing need in Los Angeles is at a crisis,” said Villaraigosa, standing in front of a 71-unit Pico Boulevard construction site already receiving city money.

Los Angeles suffers from a dearth of low-income apartments partly because high demand has outstripped supply, driving up prices.

To address the shortage, Villaraigosa last fall doubled the size of the city’s affordable housing trust fund, to $100 million.

Villaraigosa said the city’s financial commitment is important because every dollar contributed by Los Angeles is matched by $3 in state and private money. He said the city would announce a new $40-million trust fund building commitment in July for the next fiscal year.

Villaraigosa said he was hopeful that Los Angeles would reap significant additional money for low-income housing in a state public works bond being negotiated by the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The 14 projects announced Monday would attract more than $200 million in overall funding, the mayor said, producing 687 apartments within two years.

To qualify for the apartments, residents can earn no more than 60% of the median household income in Los Angeles County. For a family of four, that would be $39,300 a year. Residents can get more information online at www.lacity.org/lahdor by calling toll-free (866) 557-7368.

One developer who is set to build three of the new projects said the city’s investment, and its ability to meet development and funding deadlines, should attract new construction to long-neglected areas.

“When these projects come out and we realize that we are ... changing the face of Los Angeles, that is good,” said John Huskey, president of Meta Housing Corp.

Also on Monday, Villaraigosa announced that he had completed his appointments to the city’s Affordable Housing Commission.

His appointees are: investment advisor Stewart M. Kim; attorney Pete R. Navarro; attorney Evangeline Ordaz-Molina; former affordable housing developer and lender Stephanie Klasky-Gamer; and affordable housing finance expert Lisa L. Sugino.

They join two appointees from Villaraigosa’s predecessor, James K. Hahn. They are community activist Alice W. Harris and William Saxe Epps, senior pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Los Angeles.