New Low-Income Housing Development for Senior, Veterans Opening Soon

The Beacon, a new affordable-housing complex is soon to open in downtown Long Beach. It is dedicated to housing troubled seniors and veterans and keeping them off the cold street.

The Beacon will consist of two buildings that contain a total 160 units spread through seven floors in one building and five in the other. One building will hold 39 units and house homeless veterans. The other building will have 121 units and will house low-income and homeless seniors.

This project is being built by Century Housing Corporation, which takes up various affordable-housing development contracts with cities throughout California. Century already has a presence in Long Beach and is looking to further their influence and widen their footprint on the city.

“We have a campus in West Long Beach called Century Villages,” said Oscar Alvarado, Century director of development. “And at Century Villages, over the last 20 years, we’ve been developing affordable housing mostly for the benefit of those who are homeless and for veterans. We have about 800 rooms at Century Villages now so The Beacon represents growth for us outside of that campus environment, that community, into broader Long Beach and we are just continuing the same work that we have done for the past 20 years.”

Century has already obtained a certificate of occupancy for the building that holds 39 units and will begin housing people this month. They’re planning to begin placing tenants in the other building by October.

There will also be a social services provider on site and that will be Mental Health America. MHA will have a full-time office with five staff members connecting tenants with everyday needs and the community. They will also provide supportive services like counseling and money management and help residents find work if they are looking.

“Our goal is not just to see them stable,” said Luther Richert who is the chief service officer for Mental Health America. “Our agency wants to see them strive.”

The Senior Arts Colony, an apartment building which houses seniors who are artists will be adjacent to The Beacon and has had a long-standing relationship with Century and Oscar said that there will most likely be many opportunities for the two to interact and connect the residents with the art colony. Not only is it an apartment building, the arts colony has many shops, craftsman cottages, art galleries and photography studios to look at.

There will be an outdoor barbecue space at The Beacon for residents of both buildings to share. There will also be a community garden and multiple community rooms with a lounge and television set and a community kitchen for parties and gatherings. There will also be a workout room with equipment and a computer room. Residents of both buildings will be welcome to use these amenities.

The city also partnered with Century to help make The Beacon possible. The Housing Authority of Long Beach is tasked with filling these units. There shouldn’t be a shortage of tenants due to the high number of seniors in these kinds of situations who are in desperate need of housing.

“These projects are private-public partnerships,” Alvarado said. “There’s always the difficulty of putting together the financing for the project and of increasing construction costs on the market but we have done well to keep the project on budget and on time. We’re really happy about that. We’ve received a lot of support from the city of Long Beach and its various departments to keep the project on track. The city itself invested $10 million in seeing The Beacon project become a reality.”

“Beacon Place and Beacon Pointe, the name of the two buildings, cost a total of $80.4 million. But this is something that needs to take place and be built because of who its housing. These seniors should never have to worry about living on the streets, especially the ones who have fought and were willing to give their lives for this country. This is beginning to take place at a higher rate throughout the state with voters passing measures such as Proposition 10 which favors affordable housing and hopefully the progression doesn’t halt but continues to move at an even quicker pace and throughout the nation.

“Supportive housing is the standard now,” Alvarado said. “There is a big impetus across the state to create a lot of permanent, supportive housing like The Beacon and there is a lot of funding that has been passed through voter measures at the state level to provide funds for these kinds of projects. So we do expect to see many developers developing projects that are similar to this.”

Unfortunately the building won’t allow residents to have pets, unless they’re service animals.