Client: The Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley

Job: 6 page quarterly newsletter (Cover page shown)

Article excerpt:

     Affordable Housing For All  

As any Los Angeleno will tell you, housing prices in our area have shot out of the stratosphere. In fact, the county of Los Angeles ranks as one of the least affordable communities in the U.S. Average rents range from $850 for one-bedroom units to $1550 for four-bedroom units. According to these figures, only those with household incomes of $30,000 and above could afford decent housing. This places affordable housing out of the reach of many, including minimum wage earners.

Low and very low-income families, seniors, disabled persons, and students struggle to pay rent, live in buildings that are uninhabitable, or double up in crowded conditions. Although various types of affordable housing projects, both public and private, exist, an updated list of these developments is non-existent. Trying to locate affordable housing in the City of Los Angeles is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

The Fair Housing Council of the San Fernando Valley has a solution. Our goal is the creation of a comprehensive list of affordable housing developments by location, type of housing, finding source, accessibility features, qualifying criteria, and application procedures. Upon the list's completion we'll develop an accessible database with mapping software that will allow users to find this information online.

Our office receives at least 20-25 calls a day from people looking for information about affordable housing. The list we described above would make the search for affordable housing less cumbersome and frustrating, and would assist those looking for housing to determine if they qualify for the housing, thus expanding their opportunity for fair housing choice.

This is, quite frankly, a dream project of the FHCSFV, not only could we help those looking for affordable housing, but we could free up more time for us to work on resolving other housing discrimination complaints.

In order to undertake this project, we need your help. Please use the form attached to this newsletter to make an important contribution to our cherished project and the dream of affordable housing for those in need.