Habitat For Humanity Organization

A Los Angeles city agency Thursday approved loaning $312,000 to a church-based group to construct eight townhouses in Pacoima for poor families willing to invest 500 hours each of "sweat equity" in helping build their own homes.

A proposal by Habitat for Humanity of Orange County to build a four-unit condominium complex on city-owned land will go before the City Council and the Brea Redevelopment Agency tonight. The public hearing will mark the first time since the Redevelopment Agency was created in 1971 that it will not be composed entirely of council members. Until Councilman Carrey J. Nelson resigned from the Redevelopment Agency on Jan. 7, the City Council had sat as the Redevelopment Agency.

In the first major post-riot relief for the San Fernando Valley, Rebuild L.A. is channeling $70,000 worth of supplies donated by the lumber industry to help build eight Pacoima townhouses for poor families. The donation will enable Habitat for Humanity--a nonprofit international group whose most famous volunteer is former President Jimmy Carter--to complete its low-income condominium project, which depends largely on volunteer labor and gifts of building materials, Habitat executives said.

Habitat for Humanity of Orange County and Shelter for the Homeless are seeking volunteers to help renovate a Santa Ana house for once-homeless single men who are getting back on their feet. Volunteers will help tear off old roofing and install a new roof, reroute electrical wiring and repaint the two-story house at 518 S. Birch St., Habitat for Humanity workers said. Building cleaning and roof removal will take place Saturday and installation of a new roof and painting will be on Nov. 20.

High school students at Viewpoint School in Calabasas and three other secondary schools are blazing a new trail in the Habitat for Humanity effort. As a group, they are the first California students to undertake the task of fund-raising and coordinating the building of a new home for a low-income family and the first to completely adopt a home in the Ventura County chapter of the charity.

The Glendale Housing Authority voted Tuesday to provide Habitat for Humanity with the remaining $72,000 of $259,000 in financial assistance to build a four-unit townhouse complex for low-income residents. Habitat for Humanity--a nonprofit organization that builds and refurbishes homes nationwide, largely with the help of volunteers--sells homes at no profit to low-income people and often asks for financial assistance from cities.

Habitat for Humanity will break ground Saturday for its first three homes in Huntington Beach. Ceremonies will begin at 9 a.m. with comments from Habitat homeowners and city leaders at the Church of the Coastland, 7641 Talbert Ave. From there the group will march to the future site of the three attached homes, 7862 Ronald Road. Habitat is a worldwide nonprofit housing ministry that works to provide shelter to low-income families.

After building 30 homes from the West Adams district to Watts, Habitat for Humanity broke ground Friday on its first project on the Eastside. The volunteer home-building group expects to complete four homes on South Dickerson Avenue by the end of January as part of a long-term commitment to an area that has long suffered from overcrowding and dilapidated housing.