JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers ENJOYING THEMSELVES--Playing a game of famous people bingo in the Oak Creek Seniors Villas Community Room are, from left to right, Phyliss Lehman, Geneva Morales and Pat Woehele.

By Sophia Fischer

sfischer@theacorn.com 

For Geneva and Santos Morales Jr., the affordable-housing project for low-income seniors that just opened in Thousand Oaks has been a lifesaver.

After paying the $850 monthly rent on their former Simi Valley apartment, the husband and wife, both in their 60s, had about $500 a month left from Social Security to live on. Santos Morales spent 47 years working as a forklift operator, loader and supervisor for a tomato-packing company in King City, and Geneva worked for the same company for 30 years sorting tomatoes. The couple was thrilled when they received a phone call from the Area Housing Authority (AHA) about the new Oak Creek Senior Villas.

"It was tight for us before," said Geneva Morales, as she sat in Oak Creek’s community room playing a game called Human Bingo with fellow residents. "I’m very sociable and I love this place."

The couple now pays about $400 a month for a two-bedroom unit. The rent on the one-bedroom apartments is about $300. Regular rents would run from $974 to $1256, according to AHA figures.

Located on Thousand Oaks Boulevard just south of Moorpark Road, Oak Creek Senior Villas includes 46 one-bedroom apartments and 11 two-bedroom units. The $12-million project is the result of a combined effort by the city of Thousand Oaks, the AHA and Urban Pacific Builders.

The 3-acre lot is set back from the boulevard, behind an auto repair center. Prior to construction of the project, the vacant lot was filled with abandoned vehicles and debris and was the site of drug transactions, according to AHA Community Relations Coordinator Linda Fisher-Helton.

To qualify, residents must be at least 62 years old and have an income of no more than 65 percent of the area’s median income. Most Oak Creek residents have an annual income of between $16,000 and $18,600, which is less than 30 percent of the area’s median income.

"These are people who worked all their lives caring for others or were in jobs with no benefits," Fisher-Helton said.

The apartments in the three-story building include full kitchens and all have balconies or patios that open up to a central courtyard. Residents also have access to an indoor parking garage, laundry facilities, a library, a multipurpose social room and a crafts room. Van service is offered once a week for shopping or medical appointments. A variety of activities, including movie night, brings residents together.

"They have coffee all the time in the community room. I meet people there and we talk for awhile and get to know each other," said Jeanne Brodeur, 72, who lives on the first floor with her Joy, her Chihuahua.

Brodeur, a former school nurse who is confined to a wheelchair, pointed out that Oak Creek’s design is handicapped-friendly, with recessed doorways so that Brodeur can enter and exit her apartment without knocking into passersby. Hallways are brightly lit, and handrails line the full length of each wall.

According to Fisher-Helton, the AHA’s waiting list for affordable housing numbers more than 800 people, of whom 200 are seniors. That list only encompasses the AHA’s service area of Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Simi Valley, Fillmore, Camarillo and Ojai.

"I know in the back of my mind that there are hundreds and hundreds of people who need housing, but here are 57 that we’ve been able to provide housing for," Fisher-Helton said.