For several days after the Eaton fire tore through Altadena, Wayne Clarvoe couldn’t bear to leave his fire-damaged apartment building.
He stayed in his truck outside the affordable senior complex, trying to keep an eye on things: warding off looters, putting out ember flare-ups, responding to flooding when the building’s sprinklers finally burst back on.
“This is my home,” the 64-year-old said of the Altadena Vistas Apartments, where he lived for more than a decade.
Eventually, he began bouncing from place to place, struggling to find a spot that he could afford and where he felt truly welcome.
But on Wednesday — for the first time in almost a year — Clarvoe said he felt some hope that he finally might be able to return home.
“This is the beginning of all of the residents coming back,” Clarvoe said, grinning.
State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, a Democrat who represents Altadena, announced a $4-million investment of state funds in affordable housing for Eaton fire survivors, half of which was reserved for repairs and remediation of the Altadena Vistas complex.
It’s part of a larger pot of $8 million that Pérez worked to secure to help bring more of the community’s families back home, the senator said. The other $4 million will fund, primarily, direct grants, which will be made available through a future application process.
Although Pérez acknowledged that obstacles remain for those recovering from the Eaton fire, especially as many still struggle to find stable, affordable housing, she said Wednesday’s announcement was a sign of progress.
“There are times to celebrate, and that’s what today is about,” Pérez said Wednesday outside of the Altadena Vistas complex. The senator was flanked by other state, county and nonprofit leaders who are involved in projects tied to the new investment. “Today we celebrate another tangible step in our journey of recovery.”
L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose district includes Altadena, called the funds “proof that working together brings real resources and local recovery needs to the forefront.”
Though the newly allocated money won’t completely cover the repairs needed for the affordable apartment complex, it will allow the Los Angeles County Development Authority, finally, to begin remediation and restoration, said Carolina Romo, the independent agency’s director of construction and asset management. The authority owns and operates the senior complex.
The 21-unit complex for low-income seniors has remained empty since Jan. 7, with severe smoke, fire and water damage. The agency has worked to find its residents interim housing, Romo said, but almost all said they hoped to return to the building when possible.
“I have the pressure of trying to get all these seniors back home,” Romo said. “They’re our family.”
Romo said the $2 million in state funds comes right after the complex received an insurance payout of just over $1 million — about half of what the group had hoped it would receive. She estimates the building’s total repairs will cost $7 million, so the Development Authority will continue working to secure federal disaster relief funds and philanthropic donations to make up for the rest.
She hopes that repairs can be completed in a year. Clarvoe would love a faster timeline but said he understood that it would take time. Much of the building still smells of smoke and needs to be thoroughly cleaned of possible contaminants, such as lead. Parts of the building have clear fire damage.
“We had everything that was walking distance,” Clarvoe said. “You could go to the store, you could go to the little restaurant, the bank, everything. … I had a mosque that was up here that I would go pray.”
He said he was grateful to see some work get started on the apartment building.
“For so long I was waiting for some help, and help is thin right now,” Clarvoe said. “We’re trying to get anything we can to get this building back up, running safe.”
Pérez on Wednesday also directed $1 million each to the San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity, to help build affordable modular homes in the fire’s footprint, and to the Greenline Housing Foundation, to support affordable housing run by faith-based organizations.
Bryan Wong, the chief executive of the Habitat for Humanity chapter, said the nonprofit was already wrapping up its first two houses in the Altadena area and hoped to get started on six more lots — each with a main house and an ADU — any day now, with a goal to be done by the new year.
“We’ve been chomping at the bit to get going,” Wong said, “and these are the funds that accelerate things.”
The post ‘This is the beginning’: $4 million for affordable housing in Altadena sparks new hope appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
