UCC-Related RHF Expands its Affordable Housing Ministry in Southern Los Angeles

United Church of Christ-related Retirement Housing Foundation has completed Paloma Terrace, a new affordable housing property in South Los Angeles. The four-story structure comprises 59 units of housing for low-income families, and is located on less than an acre at the corner of 50th and Main Streets.

Founded in 1961, RHF was launched by two United Church of Christ clergy members and a layman. Currently, the nonprofit is one of the nation’s largest providers of housing and services for older adults, overseeing about 17,300 units in 29 states and DC, with a sizable concentration in California. RHF provides apartment units for people with disabilities and for low-income families, but the majority of RHF’s units are for older adults on a fixed income.

Paloma Terrace was designed to qualify for LEED Platinum and to foster a sense of community, according to Killefer Flammang Architects Los Angeles (KFA Los Angeles), which designed the property. The main organizing element for the building is a large central courtyard that includes an oval-shaped green space with a large tree, as well as a playground/barbecue area.

Moreover, the courtyard is surrounded by the building’s communal spaces, including children’s activity rooms, teen center, computer lab, library, large community room, and laundry facilities near the play areas. The site also includes a half basketball court and landscaped picnic areas.

Last year, Paloma’s sister property, Broadwood Terrace, opened across the street to provide 89 units of affordable senior housing. “They both provide a sense of place that invigorates the residential area of South Los Angeles,” said KFA project manager Dganit Shtorch.

Even Los Angeles County, which has a relatively young population, is facing a gray wave in the next few decades, with heightened demand for senior housing. According to a 2015 report by the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging at the USC School of Social Work, the county’s age-50-or-older population is expected to increase by 27 percent by 2020, and the population age 65 or older by 43 percent.