Families Praise New Housing, Agency

PICO-UNION —  After living in a Skid Row hotel room with his 2- and 3-year-old daughters, Kenneth Ross now has a new home at the Coronado Place Apartments in Pico-Union.

Last week, the Rosses and four other families moved into the partially renovated building at 671 S. Coronado St.

“I was speechless when I got here,” said Ross, 37. “I couldn’t actually believe that they were this nice. This will give me a chance to get stabilized and try to get work.”

Owned, organized and managed by Beyond Shelter, a Mid-Wilshire-based nonprofit housing referral and social services organization, the 41-unit development is part of a program to help the homeless achieve independence.

“Stable housing is the first step to stable living,” said Tanya Tull, founder and executive director of Beyond Shelter. “I don’t care who you are or where you come from. Everyone needs a place to live. And we cannot blame people by saying you’re poor and you cannot do things in life.”

A social worker will coordinate services such as job-referral counseling, parenting, child development, literacy and English as a Second Language classes once the building is completely renovated in February, project officials said.

By next fall, Tull said, the building’s basement will be remodeled to include a children’s playroom, kitchen, classrooms and a community meeting room.

She said tenants are asked to use a third of their income for rent and that most families will pay from $210 to $550 a month for the one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. Coronado Place tenants were referred to Beyond Shelter by agencies working to house the homeless.

The three-year, $5-million project was funded by loans and donations from city, state and federal sources and the private sector, Tull said. Local companies also donated furniture, kitchenware, towels, bedding, clothes, toys and Christmas trimmings to the tenants.

Sitting on a floral-print couch in her two-bedroom apartment, Frances Santiago, 32, said she and her 5-year-old daughter, Elisa, got their Christmas wish: a new home with a Christmas tree.

“To be honest, where we lived was nasty and disgusting,” Santiago said of the Skid Row hotel room she shared with Elisa. “I couldn’t raise a child in that environment. I cried when I saw this place. I couldn’t believe it was so beautiful.”