Relocation Grant Goes to Santa Ana : $200,000 Added to Tenant Fund, but Costs Slow Program

Santa Ana’s tenant-relocation assistance fund was bolstered Friday by a $200,000 federal grant, but because of high housing costs, the program so far has helped only two families find new homes.

Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) and Mayor Daniel E. Griset announced the Department of Housing and Urban Development grant, which may be followed by additional grants in years to come.

After months of controversy and voting several times against relocation assistance, the City Council in December established the program, setting up a $100,000 fund to help families displaced by the city’s crackdown on substandard housing find new places to live. The council later voted the program another $25,000 to cover administrative costs.

Access to the money--to be used for moving expenses and utility deposits--is limited to tenants who are forced out of a dwelling by code enforcement and have not received program funds before. To be eligible, tenants must have lived in a building at least 60 days, and must be unable to pay their own relocation expenses. It is “a program of last resort,” Griset said.

The maximum amount one family can receive is $1,500.

In the year since the housing crackdown began, more than 2,000 units have been inspected and an estimated 1,240 people--including about 100 families--have been displaced, Griset said.

A representative of the nonprofit agency that administers the program said, however, that although 50 qualified families have sought assistance, housing has been found for only two. LaDale Dunbar, housing coordinator for Feedback Foundation, said the average annual income of eligible families is $8,800, while a three-bedroom home in Santa Ana rents for about $600 a month, or $7,200 a year.

The $200,000 grant has a potential of becoming “very valuable,” Dunbar said, “but right now, the problem is availability--or lack of availability--of housing.” She said she is encouraged by Dornan’s support of the program, and hopes funds can be found to build housing for low-income residents.

Private Help Needed

But, Dunbar continued, “this is not a problem that can just be solved by the public sector.” She said the situation is “a total community problem,” so the private sector must become responsibly involved in the solution.

An example of private involvement, she suggested, might be for a landlord with eight apartments to rent seven of them at market value and the eighth at below-market value, to a low-income family.

Dunbar also stressed the need for new low-income housing. She said building projects in other parts of the country have produced low-cost housing in three months.

The shortage of affordable housing in Orange County is compounded by many landlords’ reluctance to rent to large families, Dunbar said. The average family deemed eligible for relocation assistance by the Feedback Foundation has six members, she said.

Mayor Griset said the search for affordable housing is not limited to Santa Ana. “We’re working as far away as Pomona,” he said, but noted that distance can mean additional problems, such as a long and expensive trip to work.

Impossible to Trace

George Gragg, city community preservation officer, said there is no way to find out where Santa Ana’s displaced tenants have gone, but it is suspected that many have moved in with friends and relatives.

Frank Guzman, an official of the Legal Aid Society of Orange County, agreed. He said many of the dislocated also may have moved into low-cost motels.

The Legal Aid Society is working closely with the relocation assistance program to persuade landlords to bring their properties up to code. A tenant found eligible for assistance agrees to let the society sue the landlord, if necessary, for what is called “retroactive rental abatement,” Guzman said. Put simply, that means a judge decides how much rent the dwelling is worth. If the landlord has been overcharging the tenant, he might be ordered to rebate a portion of the rents received.

So far, no such suits have been filed, but the society has opened 47 cases and successfully negotiated 36 of them, Guzman said.

He said the society also advises tenants that Small Claims Court will hear retroactive rental-abatement cases if the dollar amount of the claim is within that court’s limits.

“We’re trying to look down every avenue,” Guzman said. “Our primary objective is to find housing, and that’s why we’d prefer negotiating with a landlord, whenever possible, before we file suit. (Negotiations) are in the best interest of everyone involved, including the tenant,” he said.