The Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a one-bedroom unit in Los Angeles is $900, requiring an annual income of $36,000—or 256% of minimum wage!—to be considered affordable. A two-bedroom unit—enough space to house a single parent with two small children—would require an annual income of $44,960, or 320% of minimum wage. Increasing the stock of affordable housing is becoming more and more critical for Los Angeles—perhaps the most critical issue. That is why Century Housing remains committed to offering its lending products to fund the building of more affordable homes and apartments and to preserve the affordability of existing units.

We at Century work with developers, whether for-profit or nonprofit, to ensure that the proposed will include the kind of amenities that will make a difference for its residents—those features and details that create a feeling of home that we call More Than Shelter^®.

Such a development is Skyline Village just west of Downtown Los Angeles. Developed and operated by Thomas Safran & Associates and Housing Corporation of America, Skyline Village is a 73-unit apartment complex sitting on a park-like, landscaped campus with two playgrounds, a gourmet barbeque with picnic area, a basketball court, and apartment balconies overlooking it all. Other luxury features include a community room with a flat screen television and surround sound, a computer lab with free Internet access, a fitness center, and gated underground parking.

Skyline Village meets a great need for affordable housing for large working families. There is an enormous shortage of housing choices for families needing three- and four-bedroom units. The Los Angeles Housing Department estimates that the city is more than 60,000 units short of apartments for large families. Skyline Village includes 37 larger townhomes for these families.

Another development that evidences Century’s More Than Shelter philosophy is Osage Senior Villas, developed as a partnership between Alliance Property Group, Community Resource Talent Development, Inc. (Shelby Jordan and Faithful Central Baptist Church), and an affiliate of Simpson Housing Solutions, LLC. Osage Senior Villas is a 91-unit affordable senior apartment complex in the Hollypark neighborhood of Inglewood, just steps away from the city’s free shuttle—an old-fashioned trolley car which goes through downtown Inglewood—and only one block from Centinela Hospital Medical Center. A 5,400 square foot community center at the site includes a multipurpose meeting room, a community room, and a library. The common area includes a large landscaped courtyard, a walking path, and a barbecue area. Social services include a tenants’ association, public safety workshops, a Foster Grandparent program, recreational activities, mental and physical health counseling services, and educational programs. Osage Senior Villas is the first project in Inglewood to take advantage of the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program.

La Brea Gardens is another example of Century’s financing at work to improve our communities’ affordable housing stock. This preservation project is an extensive rehabilitation of a 185-unit apartment complex in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles. Built in the 1950s, the property had been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair. In addition to repair of the buildings, a 3,500 square foot community room is under construction, and $40,000 has been budgeted annually to provide on-site social services, including the Century/LIFT after-school tutorial program.

To afford a median priced home in the Los Angeles metro area, an aerospace engineer would need to be making 128% of his or her salary, a physical therapist 171%, a social worker 310%, a school bus driver 441%, and a lifeguard 476%.

To address this hardship, Century is committed to providing funding to develop affordable homes. One example is the Mountain Court development in Pasadena. This in-fill project, a joint venture between Mountain Court Developers, Inc. and Pasadena Neighborhood Housing Services, consists of four duplexes designed in a California Bungalow style that compliments the neighborhood. These townhomes feature two children’s play areas. The development is freeway-close, within walking distance to public elementary and secondary schools, and is near neighborhood shopping and public transportation. Each of the eight units is 1,650 square feet and has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms, laundry area, and an attached two-car garage.

Another affordable ownership opportunity being developed near Downtown Los Angeles is an adaptive reuse of the 1920s W.P. Fuller industrial building in Lincoln Heights. The Fuller Lofts, due to break ground by the end of 2005, will be available to households with a mix of income levels; 75% of the units will be made available to those earning 120% of the area median income or less, and the remaining 25% will be sold at market rate. This mixed-use development of more than 100 condominiums will feature 12,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor and is only four blocks away from the Lincoln Heights/Cypress Park Metro Gold Line station.