{"id":455154,"date":"2025-12-18T08:35:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T08:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/455154\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T08:35:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T08:35:29","slug":"4-million-for-affordable-housing-in-altadena-sparks-new-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/455154\/","title":{"rendered":"$4 million for affordable housing in Altadena sparks new hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For several days after the Eaton fire tore through Altadena, Wayne Clarvoe couldn\u2019t bear to leave his fire-damaged apartment building. <\/p>\n

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\u2019s sprinklers finally burst back on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my home,\u201d the 64-year-old said of the Altadena Vistas Apartments, where he lived for more than a decade. <\/p>\n

Eventually, he began bouncing from place to place, struggling to find a spot that he could afford and where he felt truly welcome. <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Eaton fire survivor Wayne Clarvoe stands in a fire-damaged unit at the Altadena Vistas Apartments on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

(Juliana Yamada \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

But on Wednesday \u2014 for the first time in almost a year \u2014 Clarvoe said he felt some hope that he finally might be able to return home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the beginning of all of the residents coming back,\u201d Clarvoe said, grinning. <\/p>\n

State Sen. Sasha Ren\u00e9e P\u00e9rez, 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. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s part of a pot of $8 million that P\u00e9rez worked to secure to help bring more of the community\u2019s families back home, the senator said. The other $4 million will primarily fund direct grants, which will be made available through a future application process. <\/p>\n

Although P\u00e9rez acknowledged that obstacles remain for those recovering from the Eaton fire, especially as many still struggle to find stable, affordable housing<\/a>, she said Wednesday\u2019s announcement was a sign of progress. <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

State Sen. Sasha Ren\u00e9e P\u00e9rez speaks during a news conference at the Altadena Vistas Apartments on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

(Juliana Yamada\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are times to celebrate, and that\u2019s what today is about,\u201d P\u00e9rez said outside 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. \u201cToday we celebrate another tangible step in our journey of recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose district includes Altadena, called the funds \u201cproof that working together brings real resources and local recovery needs to the forefront.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the newly allocated money won\u2019t 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\u2019s director of construction and asset management. The authority owns and operates the senior complex. <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger tours a fire-damaged unit at the Altadena Vistas Apartments on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

(Juliana Yamada \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have the pressure of trying to get all these seniors back home,\u201d Romo said. \u201cThey\u2019re our family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romo said the $2 million in state funds comes right after the complex received an insurance payout of just over $1 million \u2014 about half of what the group had hoped it would receive. She estimates the building\u2019s 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 the rest. <\/p>\n

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,<\/a> such as lead. Parts of the building have clear fire damage. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had everything that was walking distance,\u201d Clarvoe said. \u201cYou 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he was grateful to see that work was getting started on the apartment building. <\/p>\n

\"People <\/p>\n

Public officials and Eaton fire survivors pose with large checks at the Altadena Vistas Apartments on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

(Juliana Yamada\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cFor so long I was waiting for some help, and help is thin right now,\u201d Clarvoe said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to get anything we can to get this building back up, running safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

P\u00e9rez on Wednesday also directed $1 million each to the San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity, to help build affordable modular homes in the fire\u2019s footprint, and to the Greenline Housing Foundation, to support affordable housing run by faith-based organizations.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 each with a main house and an accessory dwelling unit \u2014 any day now, with a goal to be done by the new year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been chomping at the bit to get going,\u201d Wong said, \u201cand these are the funds that accelerate things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For several days after the Eaton fire tore through Altadena, Wayne Clarvoe couldn\u2019t bear to leave his fire-damaged…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":455155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[852,21053,208578,9102,1582,276,208577,5810,6803,2961,224,5337,45954,39931,110297,17251,141876,208576,15613,1628],"class_list":{"0":"post-455154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-affordable-housing","9":"tag-altadena","10":"tag-altadena-vistas-apartments","11":"tag-building","12":"tag-ca","13":"tag-california","14":"tag-carolina-romo","15":"tag-eaton-fire","16":"tag-first-time","17":"tag-la","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-losangeles","20":"tag-new-hope","21":"tag-perez","22":"tag-remediation","23":"tag-repair","24":"tag-state-fund","25":"tag-wayne-clarvoe","26":"tag-wednesday","27":"tag-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115739658655455678","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}