Burbank to Turn Away Housing-Aid Applicants

Burbank housing officials, faced with a waiting list of more than 1,000 low- to moderate-income families and elderly residents seeking federal housing aid, said Thursday they will stop accepting applications for such aid at the end of the month.

Linda Malzek, administrator for the city’s housing and grants program, said it might be a year before more applications can be accepted. “It might take that long to take care of the people we have,” she said. “Federal regulations allow us to close it off like that” so those who apply do not carry false hope of receiving aid.

The freeze “is a pretty common occurrence,” Malzek said. “Many housing authorities have their waiting lists closed for years.”

Officials in Glendale stopped accepting new applications in February, when their waiting list reached 2,000 applicants.

Burbank Residents Only

After allowing people outside the city to apply for aid if they were planning to move to Burbank, city officials two years ago limited participation in their program to Burbank residents.

Under the federal Section 8 rental assistance program, people in the program apply 30% of their monthly income toward rent. The city subsidizes the balance of the rent through funds received from the U. S Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Burbank receives grants for 593 tenants.

Eligibility limits are a yearly gross income of $11,600 for individuals, $13,300 for a two-member family and $16,600 for a family of four.

The average income of Burbank tenants in the program is $7,824, Malzek said.

City officials hope to accommodate many of the applicants on the waiting list by next year, Malzek said. There are five to 10 openings in the program each month, she said.