DEVELOPER LOOKS TO SIMI FOR HELP IN SENIOR HOUSING.

Byline: Terry Kanakri Daily News Staff Writer

A developer is seeking city support to build a 149-unit affordable housing complex in Wood Ranch for fixed-income seniors, officials said Monday.

AMCAL Affordable Communities Inc. of Westlake Village is asking for the city's help to get financing for an apartment complex for low- and very-low-income seniors.

City officials said they are open to discussions, noting that affordable senior housing is a high priority in Simi Valley because many elderly residents cannot afford to rent apartments at market value.

"We need to take care of our seniors because at some point, those seniors took care of us," said Councilwoman Barbara Williamson. "They are somebody's mothers and somebody's fathers and I want to do whatever I can to help them."

AMCAL is proposing to build 134 low- and 15 very-low-income apartments in a complex on 7.6 acres at the southwestern terminus of Wood Ranch Parkway.

AMCAL is asking the city to support the project by helping it gain the necessary financing for the $12.63 million complex. AMCAL wants the city to apply for and allocate $1 million in federal HOME grant money earmarked for affordable housing, to help the company to buy land and to cover initial preconstruction financing.

The company also needs city approval to help it apply for $8.3 million in state multifamily housing bonds to be used to finance construction. City support also would help the company to secure tax credits needed to build the apartment complex.

"They want support for their financial packet which they feel is necessary to make the project feasible at the rents they're proposing," said Jim Purtee, a Simi Valley senior planner.

AMCAL has asked the city's Affordable Housing Subcommittee to recommend that the City Council support the company's requests, Purtee said. If the proposal is approved, construction of the project could start later this year.

The Wood Ranch site is zoned for affordable apartments for families, and any change would require the city's approval of an amendment to an affordable housing agreement, Purtee said.

If built, AMCAL projects 121 one-bedroom apartments to be rented for $630 a month; 13 one-bedroom apartments for $519 a month, 13 two-bedroom units for $752 a month, and two two-bedroom units for $619 a month.

According to latest figures available, the average monthly rent for a Simi Valley one-bedroom apartment in late 1993 was $694, Purtee said. The average two-bedroom apartment rent was $781.

There are currently 351 affordable apartment units for seniors in Simi Valley.

Williamson, who is a member of the city's Affordable Housing Subcommittee, said she would be in favor of an affordable housing senior complex in Wood Ranch.

"In our city, if you'd try to locate affordable housing, you wouldn't be able to do that," she said. "So I don't have a problem with affordable housing going into Wood Ranch or Indian Hills. We need to spread them around so we don't have a blighted area in one particular place of town."