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# Bill Bauer: City housing policy fails elderly as Village Trailer Park residents face closure
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/bill-bauer-send-comments-to-editor-smdp-com-my-write-elderly-get-shorted-by-housing-policies/
- Published: 2007-06-25T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T01:17:58.000Z
- Author: Bill Bauer
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA APPEARS to have a housing policy that discriminates against the elderly.

Since 2000, the City has funded the development of over 622 low-income rental units — only 20 of them are for seniors. The failure to fund adequate deed restricted senior housing is having a particularly egregious effect on the residents of the Village Trailer Park at 2930 Colorado Avenue.

Village Trailer Park is home to 99 Santa Monicans — many of whom have been here for decades, are elderly, have health issues and limited resources. They all could be on the street within a year. Property owner, Yorba Linda based J & H Asset Property Management, has informed residents that the trailer park is closing. They’ve been urged to take advantage of “generous” moving allowances according to the Daily Press (”Uneasy living,” June 12, Page 1).

Closing dates have been postponed three times — the latest move-out deadline is scheduled for January 31, 2008\. Park resident, Garland Kemp, tells me, “Management said they may be able to let us stay a little longer.” Speculation is that the two-acre property will be developed into market rate condominiums with office space and retail when all tenants are evicted.

Where do these people go? Thirty-eight of them are over 60\. Thirty-two are physically disabled or chronically ill. Some residents, such as my barber, Garland Kemp, have lived and worked in Santa Monica "for at least 25 years.” Kemp has applied for housing through the city’s public housing nonprofit, Community Corporation of Santa Monica.

CCSM recently opened three family apartment buildings. A fourth is under construction. Additional family buildings are planned for the Pico neighborhood and in the Civic Center. Other projects in the pipeline also have multi-bedrooms for families with children. And, with applicants recruited outside of Santa Monica filling up CCSM’s waiting list, it’s not surprising Santa Monica old-timers like Kemp can’t obtain housing or will have to wait for years.

Possibilities are that a few trailer park residents may be able to move to the city-owned Mountain View Trailer Park on Stewart Street, but terms, space availability and costs have yet to be determined.

Private developer, NMS Properties, recently unveiled plans for a number of affordable, single-room occupancy (SRO) apartment buildings at various city locations (”City showing bias against ‘singles,’” April 30, Page 4). With a projected $1,000 monthly rent, they’ll be out of reach for most Village Trailer Park residents — some of which now pay as little as a few hundred dollars a month for a pad.

NMS says they’ll accept Section 8 vouchers which many trailer park residents would qualify for. However, the city is even freezing out evicted park residents because they recently approved an emergency ordinance that slaps a moratorium on proposed SRO buildings — delaying and possibly stopping most of NMS’s planned developments.

Construction of affordable housing is a part of the City Charter. At one time, a large percentage of city-sponsored affordable housing was earmarked for seniors. A subsequent charter amendment, approved by voters in 1998, had no senior stipulations.

Since 2000, the city has approved and/or funded 622 units of new public housing, including the 20 units in a senior building planned for 1458 14th St. Only a paltry 3 percent of affordable housing approved during the last 6-1/2 years is deed-restricted for seniors. Although there are other, older subsidized buildings for the elderly, demand has far outstripped supply.

Aren’t the Commission for the Senior Community and the Housing Commission abdicating their responsibilities? Aware of a huge increase in the senior population looming as “baby boomers” near retirement age, both commissions have failed the elderly by not advocating vigorously for a greater percentage of city developed housing to be earmarked for low income seniors.

Meanwhile, many of Santa Monica’s neediest seniors are on the brink. Frail and forgotten, they get by only on Social Security or small pensions. Seniors who’ve lived here and contributed to the community for decades are ignored and forgotten by city bureaucrats, clueless citizen commissioners, politicians and a city-connected housing provider focused on families.

Santa Monica must step up it’s commitment to low-income senior housing so that those evicted from places like the Village Trailer Park aren’t forced to spend the last years of their lives alone in a strange and unfamiliar place far, far away.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 25, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/062507.pdf?ref=smdp.com)