Apartment conversions wait on tenant moves

Lolita Harper

Only 29 things stand between an existing rundown Westside

apartment complex and its conversion to owner-occupied condominiums

by Habitat for Humanity: the tenants.

After approval of a routine subdivision for 1925 Pomona Ave. at

Monday night’s Planning Commission meeting, Habitat for Humanity

officials now are merely waiting for current tenants to find other

homes before they can start construction on the renovation project.

“We are looking forward to getting started as soon as the

buildings are vacant,” said Mark Korando, who represents Habitat for

Humanity.

To help move the process along, the city has fronted nearly

$64,000 in relocation funds for the four tenant families who are

legal residents, said Alma Penalosa, a city housing official. That

cost will be added to the amount that Habitat borrowed from the city

to buy the property in the first place. Because the project was

funded by federal housing money, the city is prohibited from funding

the moves of illegal residents.

Habitat for Humanity has contributed about $5,000 to the remaining

two families who were not eligible to receive the public funds, in

the form of first and last months rent and returned deposit, Korando

said.

The city hired Long Beach-based Pacific Relocation Consultants to

handle the process. Heidy Guendel, the firm’s relocation consultant

assigned to the project, said the families were given 30% of the

household annual income -- based on the earnings of all people in the

house older than 18 -- to fund their move.

At one point, Korando estimated about 58 tenants were living at

the apartment complex, but Guendel said 29 people were living there

when she came on board.

A lump sum from the city was placed in an escrow account and is

available to the families as they need it, Guendel said. Two of the

families are using the money to buy homes outside of the city, where

houses are not as pricey, she said.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these families who

are now able to actually buy a home with the funds provided,” Guendel

said. “Unfortunately, they cannot buy in their own city because of

the high prices, but they will be homeowners.”

The Habitat project calls for two existing two-bedroom duplexes to

be converted into four-bedroom homes and a third to be rehabilitated.

An additional three-bedroom house also will be built, resulting in a

six-unit affordable housing project.

Once converted, the condominiums would be sold as low-income

housing to qualifying applicants and the maintenance of the property

will be the responsibility of the new homeowners.

The tenants were given first dibs on the planned condominiums, but

none met the organization’s stringent requirements. Six families --

out of thousands of applicants -- have been selected by Habitat for

Humanity and will be announced on Aug. 3, Korando said.

* LOLITA HARPER covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at [email protected]