Affordable housing community opens doors
Pacific City Lights complex on Pacific Ave. has about 175 residents.
By Paul Eakins, Staff writer
Long Beach Press Telegram
Article Launched:09/19/2007 11:20:58 PM PDT

LONG BEACH - When Guadalupe and Ezequiel Cisneros moved from a run-down, one-bedroom rental to a brand new four-bedroom apartment at Pacific City Lights, Long Beach's new affordable housing community, their three children were jumping for joy, Guadalupe Cisneros said Wednesday.
"They said, `Wow, we're going to have our own bedrooms,"' Cisneros said in Spanish. "They ran all over (the apartment)."

Cisneros was one of about 70 residents, city officials, community members and developers who helped celebrate the grand opening of Pacific City Lights on Wednesday morning.

The development at 1643 Pacific Ave. was built on 1.21 acres through a collaboration of the city of Long Beach, developers and financing companies. The development is one of the few rental affordable housing complex built in Long Beach in the last 10 years, according to city officials.

About 175 people live at the complex, which has 42 three- and four-bedroom apartments for low-income families. The complex, which was built by Santa Monica-based Squier Properties and Los Angeles-based Advanced Development and Investments, is three stories tall and has a community room, a computer room, a jogging track, a "tot lot" and a mini soccer field.

The $13.3 million project includes $3.6 million in federal housing grants administered through the city. Rents range from $529 to $926 per month.

Vice Mayor Bonnie Lowenthal of the 1st District, which is where the project is located, told the crowd that the city had realized the need for housing and other community revitalization efforts a few years ago.

"The city really needed to put some focus into those areas that had so deteriorated and needed some quality affordable housing," Lowenthal said.

She encouraged Pacific City Lights residents to get involved in their community.

"We will continue to improve this neighborhood with your help," Lowenthal said.

Also involved in the development is the Centro Community Hispanic Association, or Centro CHA, which is partnering with other organizations to provide classes and services for residents, including workshops in parenting skills, job searching, financial literacy, computer education and health service access.

Leticia Mata, a board member of Centro CHA and a representative of the Orange County Community Credit Union, which will provide the financial literacy classes, said the affordable housing development has given residents a valuable opportunity.

"For many of them, it's a step up into self-sufficiency," Mata said. "We want to provide them with the tools so that they can become homeowners."

Resident Letitia Wright, a single mother who works as a phlebotomist, said the building definitely was a step up for her and her two sons. She said she was especially impressed by the computer room, which has five new personal computers with flat-screen monitors.

"I've never moved into a community with a computer room," Wright said. "My sons were pretty psyched about that."

Josefina Rosales, who lives at the complex with her husband Tereso and their three children, said the family pays less rent there for a three-bedroom apartment - $680 per month - than they had for a one-bedroom place. Adequate family housing in Long Beach is scarce, she said in Spanish.

"It's very difficult here," Rosales said. "All of the apartments are very expensive."


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