Development Gives Homeless Families New Lease on Life
By Caitlin Jones
4 min read
Tax Credit Advisor, August 2009: Homeless families in Long Beach, Calif., are getting a new lease on life, thanks to a $32 million affordable housing development opened by Century Housing Corporation in December.
Built on a former U.S. Navy housing site, the new Family Commons at Cabrillo development includes six residential buildings, a clubhouse and library, counseling and administration offices, meeting rooms, and laundry facilities.
The 81-unit project, which features a mix of townhomes and flats, has received national recognition from the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition. Recently, the Family Commons development won a 2009 Charles L. Edson Tax Credit Excellence Award in the Special Needs category.
Part of Larger Development
Family Commons is the third phase of a larger development called Century Villages at Cabrillo that was begun a decade ago by Century Housing Corporation (CHC), a Culver-based nonprofit corporation.
“The Family Commons at Cabrillo is just one component of a much larger 26-acre campus that is entirely dedicated to the benefit of the homeless,” says CHC President Brian D’Andrea. “Our goal is to break the cycle of homelessness.”
Family Commons provides affordable permanent rental housing for homeless families, adding to existing housing options in the larger development that include emergency shelter for 182 individuals plus 200 transitional housing units for veterans.
“There’s a significant need in the city of Long Beach to address the homeless issues,” says D’Andrea. According to the city, roughly 4,000 people are homeless on any given night in Long Beach.
Preference for 40 of the 81 units at Family Commons is given to homeless families that include a mentally disabled individual. Roughly five families are assisted by federal tenant-based Section 8 housing vouchers.
All of the one, two, three, and four bedroom units at Family Commons are low-income housing tax credit-eligible apartments. The units have monthly rents ranging from $400 to more than $1,300, and are reserved for households earning 30% to 60% of the area median income (AMI).
D’Andrea said the average household income of current residents is about 32.5% of AMI.
Equity, Other Funds
The multiple funding sources for Family Commons included $19.2 million in housing credit equity provided by John Hancock Realty Advisors, a Boston-based corporate investor. In return for its equity investment, John Hancock will receive federal and state housing tax credits.
Sonya Prear, director of asset management at John Hancock, said her company was involved in financing previous stages of Century Village and views Century Housing as an excellent general partner.
The city’s Long Beach Housing Development Company provided a zero-interest, 55-year loan of $11.8 million to the project. Los Angeles-based First Federal Bank of California made a zero-interest, 15-year loan of $972,000, funded by federal Affordable Housing Program dollars. Century Housing Corporation provided a $621,000 loan, at 9% for 35 years. All three loans are repayable from excess cash flow.
Extensive Services
D’Andrea said that the level of care provided to residents to help them break out of homelessness is what sets Family Commons apart.
PATH (People Assisting The Homeless) Ventures, a Los Angeles-based community development corporation, will provide case management, mental health counseling, and rental subsidies for residents, funded by a $1 million grant. PATH has four full-time workers assigned to the 80 resident families.
Residents suffering from psychological and physical trauma, post-traumatic stress, or new disabilities associated with military war service receive intensive case management. Services are also provided to address domestic violence and mental illness exacerbated by poverty.
Other general, on-site services include health care, childcare, adult and after-school education programs, recreation, nutrition, and job training programs. Success in these programs will be measured by the number of residents who are employed, the number who eventually move out, and continued improvement in grades and behaviors, D’Andrea said.
“We employ about 150 people across all of the different nonprofits that operate programs on our campus,” he says, “and every resident is linked to a service provider. We provide a concentration, a kind of wealth of resources, to help families to make that next step and become independent.”
D’Andrea said Family Commons has many green features, such as low-VOC paint, recycled content carpeting, and Energy Star appliances. Sustainability is boosted by elements that include bathroom floor drains, aluminum windows, and solid surface counters.
Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster describes Family Commons at Cabrillo as a “spark of hope” for formerly homeless families, noting it will provide them with a “glimpse of the opportunities that their futures can hold.”
– Stephen K. Cooper
