Grand Opening of Renato Apartments Supportive Housing Development
Advancing ‘Housing that Works’ Plan, Renato Apartments will provide 96 studio apartments to extremely low income residents
LOS ANGELES, CA – November 5, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard and Councilwoman Jan Perry were joined by Enterprise Community Partners (Enterprise), Single Room Occupancy (SRO) Housing, new residents and neighbors to celebrate the grand opening of the Renato Apartments located at 531 S. San Julian Street on Skid Row. A $25 million development, the Renato will provide 96 affordable studio apartments for extremely low-income residents.
“Addressing our shared responsibility to decrease homelessness and increase housing availability requires partnerships between communities and philanthropic efforts, as well as increased support from the state and federal government,” Mayor Villaraigosa said.” The Renato Apartments are the perfect example of the fruits of our collective labor, providing our fellow Angelenos with a permanent home and the support they need to stay off the streets.”
The Renato Apartments offer permanent-supportive housing to residents who earn up to 45 percent of the area median income. Sixty apartments are reserved for the chronically homeless and those who suffer from mental-illness. In order to assist residents with needed life-skills, SRO Housing will provide comprehensive on-site social services. All studio apartments will be supported by project-based Section 8 rental subsidy and the residents can also access social support, such as free meals and drug and alcohol recovery programs, at the neighboring James Woods Community Center.
“At SRO, we are dedicated to revitalizing Skid Row and creating safe and affordable housing where individuals can receive needed assistance,” said Anita Nelson, chief executive officer, SRO Housing. “We are extremely proud that the Renato provides a comfortable place for residents to call home and that it offers a new resource for the surrounding community.”
Unprecendented collaboration between the City and County in the development of the Renato Apartments represents a new model for the way the region responds to the issue of chronic homelessness. Agencies that helped to fund the operations and services of the building include the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Substance Abuse Prevention and Conctrol and Los Angeles County Second District- Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas.
“Enterprise has invested heavily in Skid Row because we believe that it is important to create a community that includes affordable housing and access to needed resources for those who are working to make improvements in their lives,” said Jeff Schaffer, vice president and Southern California impact leader at Enterprise. “We know that a home is the first step to address homelessness, but allowing for supportive services increases the odds that a person will remain housed.”
The Renato Apartments will save taxpayers more than $ 1 million per year in defrayed public service costs by providing chronically homeless individuals with homes, healthcare, counseling and other supportive services rather than consigning them to access care in emergency rooms and through incarceration.
The major component of the Housing that Works plan is the shift from managing homelessness to ending it. This effort includes building permanent supportive housing, most recently including the Charles Cobb Apartments, New Genesis, the Villas at Gower, and Glenoaks Gardens. Housing that Works established a goal of financing 2,200 units of permanent supportive housing. Since 2008, this administration has financed 1,335 units, exceeding the target to date and investing more public funds in permanent supportive housing thatn have been cumulatively invested in the past decade.
