City Loan to Help Nonprofit Group Rehabilitate Rundown Dwellings

Fernando Rodriguez pulled open his oven and the sudden burst of light sent about two dozen cockroaches scattering to the floor.

“It’s bad here,” he said. “Very bad.”

For four years, Rodriguez, his wife Maria and their three children have lived with cracked windows, broken doors, faulty plumbing and a leaky roof. Dealers peddle crack cocaine and marijuana out of nearby apartments, and gang members congregate just a few steps away.

As tenants of perhaps the most notorious apartment complex on a troubled stretch of Blythe Street in Panorama City, the Rodriguez family and their neighbors have endured some of the worst slum conditions in the San Fernando Valley.

But that is expected to finally change.

In another sign of renewal on Blythe Street, the Los Angeles City Council has approved a $3.1-million loan to help a nonprofit group rehabilitate the rundown complex.

Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, which purchased the property from the city for $765,000 last year, plans to tear down the most heavily damaged of the complex’s four buildings and refurbish the others.

The 56-unit complex, which is half empty, is now made up of small one- and two-bedroom apartments. Hermandad officials say that when major construction begins within several months, they will reduce the number of apartments to between 32 and 34. Some apartments will have three or four bedrooms.

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“This complex really shows how bad Blythe Street was. These were some of the worst buildings on the street,” said Albert Melena, who works for the San Fernando Valley Partnership, which operates a youth center on Blythe Street.

But while city officials and many residents are praising the nonprofit group’s move to refurbish the complex, some residents have complained that Hermandad has not been clear about its plans.

Those residents say that they don’t know if they will be allowed to move back into their old apartments once they have been refurbished and that they don’t know where they will live while the work is in progress.

“I don’t know anything,” said Valerie Garcia, who pays $300 a month for a roach-infested, two-bedroom apartment that she shares with her two daughters, son-in-law and two grandchildren.

“They don’t tell us anything except that they are going to remodel and tear things down.”

Some tenants, still unsure of what the council action would bring, said they were worried that the project would force them out of the homes they’ve had for years.

“Nobody is assuring us that we will be able to return,” Federico Gallegos, 51, who has lived in the complex 17 years, said in Spanish. “It’s like walking with our eyes closed. We don’t know what to do.”

The new complex is required to be low-income housing. Rents are expected to be no more than about 30% of a family’s household income.

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Hermandad, which means brotherhood in Spanish, is a 50-year-old agency that provides a wide range of social services such as English instruction and citizenship classes.

Earlier this year, an independent audit found that Hermandad misspent or could not account for more than $500,000 in federal grants and taxes. It is the subject of a state investigation into voting fraud.

However, by approving the loan, city officials have given their support to the agency in the hope of adding a happy final chapter to what has been a long, complex ordeal.

“This group has worked very hard to get this project going,” said Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents the area. “This is the most important project on Blythe Street because [these are] the most dilapidated and the most deteriorated buildings there.”

Getting this far with plans to refurbish the complex, which is near the old General Motors plant, required numerous tedious steps including transferring the title to Hermandad.

Although some emergency work has been done on roofs and plumbing, major construction on the complex is not expected to begin for several months.

It is being funded by federal money that is administered by Los Angeles officials, said Annick Derrick, an official with the Los Angeles Housing Department.

Derrick said the conditions at the site have been so dire for so long that tenants were almost squatters.

“It was abandoned essentially,” Derrick said. “Nobody could locate the owner to actually go through the straight purchase. It had to go through all these steps.”

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As for financially troubled Hermandad stepping in, Derrick said city officials determined that the agency was up to the task. The city, as a lender, will monitor construction and dispense funds as the work gets done, she said.

“They’ve formed a team that we believe is a competent team,” Derrick said. “We were in a cycle that had to be interrupted.”

For Hermandad, the project is an example of the good the agency says dominates its efforts.

“We feel very, very happy about the project,” said Angelina Casillas, director of housing and development for Hermandad Mexicana Nacional. “They’ve been living in pretty bad conditions for a long period of time. We feel optimistic about moving the project ahead.”

Derrick and Casillas said tenants who must move away during construction will be provided with relocation compensation. In addition, all tenants will be invited to move back in once the renovations are complete, they said.

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Casillas acknowledged that some tenants have raised concerns about how the project will change their lives, but that most seem eager for improvements.

“Overall, they seem to be very happy,” she said. “It’s what they’ve been pushing for. They don’t want to live under those conditions forever.”

Added Alarcon: “There are still problems that we are trying to clean up on Blythe Street, and this will make a big impact. There’s no question that things are getting better there, and this will definitely help.”