“I am 73 years old, and I guess I shouldn’t be living on the streets.”

"I have gotten from there to here"Those were a few of his words during our conversation.

The first time I met Jeff, as everyone calls him, it was the winter of 2013 during the homeless count that took place in the city of Long Beach.

Our volunteer group came across him as we were canvassing our area along the 710 freeway. Jeff was living in the concrete flood control channel where the Los Angeles River flows, inside an enormous concrete drain.

In there was his bed, a bicycle and the few possessions he had. He shared with us that every time it rained, the drainage system would loudly open, and as they quickly evacuated, he would witness all of his belongings being washed by the rain. That is the place Jeff called home for more than 15 years.

Once we completed taking his information, we found out that Jeff was a Navy veteran who had served in the Vietnam war.

During that year, the housing policy had changed to “housing first,” and a group of organizations in the city had teamed up to provide housing for homeless veterans who would be willing to be housed during the homeless count.

Jeff decided that it was time for him to change his living situation and took our offer to move him into a new home. We then arranged transportation for him and decided to wait.

We did not want the transportation to not be able to find him or for him to change his mind, so, we waited. Finally, the vehicle that would take Jeff to Century Villages at Cabrillo arrived. There, he would be receiving housing and case management services.

A few weeks went by, and I saw Jeff walking down the street shouting and cursing, “I hate this place.”

I was surprised. I expected him to be in a better place mentally, but that was not the case for him.

I got the opportunity to visit Jeff’s new home a couple days later. As I entered, I observed post-it notes all over his wall. Every one of them had a quote written on them– one of them read:

“I have gotten from there to here.”

It was then when I got a moment of clarity. I wanted more for Jeff; I wanted him to succeed. I wanted him to be in a better place, but for Jeff, it’s day to day.

It’s the little victories that are meaningful: making his bed in the mornings, getting along with his neighbors, going out for a walk.

Those things are wins for Jeff. It’s been five years since this took place, and I am glad to know that Century Villages at Cabrillo is still home to Jeff, and for that, hats off to him.

Story by Alejandro Sosa, IT Lead, Century Villages at Cabrillo

A Journey to Well-Being

The journey for Ed was not an easy one. He endured hardships in his life to get to where he is now. With the countless struggles he experienced, he reached out to the VA and was given two choices: Beacon House or Veterans Village Recovery Center (VVRC) located on the CVC site. His intuition told him to try VVRC for inpatient treatment, which eventually led him to joining groups and AA meetings in the Social Hall.

A resident of U.S.VETS’ “Veterans in Progress” program since September 2017, Ed came to the realization that his fellow housemates’ experiences were quite similar to his. This inspired him to share kind words with them or give compassion. During this time, he came across “John’s flyer,” as he called it. John Oppenheim, better known as “The Yoga Guy,” leads yoga classes available to all on campus.

Ed thought he would give yoga a try and it surprisingly grew on him. Yoga was different. After several classes, he eventually got into meditation and prayer. The combination of treatment, yoga, involvement with AA and fellowships, Ed soon started to see his life turn around. He no longer feels the need to become upset with an undesired outcome, but to simply accept it instead. Yoga became such an enjoyment for him that he began reading on the philosophies rather than just learning the positions.

One day, Ed would like to teach a yoga class. He is definitely heading in the right direction. He left us with a quote:

Yoga is a caring practice. Meditation and mindfulness can help you through your day. There is no greater service than giving to someone that really needs it.

 

Century Joins One San Pedro Collaborative

We are excited to announce that our team has been selected by the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) to redevelop the 478 unit, 22 acre public housing site known as Rancho San Pedro. Located on San Pedro’s waterfront, Rancho San Pedro was constructed in the 1940s and 1950s, first to house defense industry workers and later as part of the federal government’s post-World War II housing mandate. Over the ensuing decades, the public housing site aged, layouts became functionally obsolete, deferred maintenance mounted, and a growing recognition took root that wholesale redevelopment was required. With more than $3 billion of active investment in and around San Pedro presently (including AltaSea, the Waterfront, Port of Los Angeles projects, and more), the time was ripe to pursue redevelopment.

Century joined forces with two other development teams to respond to this opportunity: The Richman Group, a national for profit developer of and investor in both affordable and market rate housing, and National Community Renaissance, a vertically integrated 501(c)3 nonprofit developer and manager of affordable housing. Combined, our three firms represented a formidable team that features financial strength, national reputation, regional experience, and local credibility, and a rich history of actually working together. For our part, Century brought extensive experience developing and managing a large, master planned community (the Villages), a strong history of developing and managing permanent supportive housing, along with deep local relationships amongst the Harbor area’s nonprofit and educational institutions. Our team is rounded out by consultants such as City Fabrick, SVA Architects, KPFF, Cisneros Miramontes, and others.

Together, we formed the One San Pedro Collaborative (OSPC) which views this opportunity as much more than simply redeveloping an old public housing site. Rather, the OSPC embraces this opportunity as an exercise in community development whereby the transformation of an isolated public housing site can become a catalyst for stitching together various neighborhoods, promoting economic advancement, and stimulating large-scale community transformation. Our team has proposed a build out in excess of 1,600 homes, including affordable housing, permanent supportive housing, market rate rental housing, affordable for sale housing, and market rate for sale housing in addition to more than 100,000 square feet of commercial, supportive and amenity space and an extensive community benefits package including a 2.0 acre park.

After an exhaustive nine month process that involved a first stage request for qualifications, followed by a second stage in depth proposal, followed by a formal community presentation, interview with a HACLA panel, submission of Best and Final Offer, tour of our properties (including a memorable and impactful visit to the Villages) and responses to numerous questions in between, our team was selected. It was gratifying to see HACLA’s recognition of our outreach efforts as we spent an inordinate amount of time meeting with community groups, listening, taking notes, and attempting to craft a proposal that was responsive to community need.

The road ahead is long and will be full of challenges but this is an incredible milestone and accomplishment for our Century team. Many thanks to everyone who supported this effort!