Carlsbad Misused Housing Funds, Legal Aid Society Charges

The Legal Aid Society of San Diego, representing a group of Carlsbad residents, said Tuesday that it plans to file suit against the city’s Redevelopment Agency for violating state law by spending money earmarked for low- and moderate-income housing on other projects.

Catherine A. Rodman, a housing attorney for the Legal Aid Society, said city officials have failed to address a critical shortage of reasonably priced housing in Carlsbad, forcing individuals and families of modest means to either pay too much of their income for rent or become homeless.

The lawsuit, scheduled to be filed Thursday in Superior Court in San Diego, names the city of Carlsbad, the City Council and the Redevelopment Agency, she said. Rodman, who declined to name the plaintiffs, said the civil action seeks to have the housing funds replenished and the money spent according to state law to build needed housing. Rodman did not know the amount of funds involved.

“Cities try to stretch and use special funds to pay for a wide latitude of things, but doing that with housing money is totally inappropriate,” Rodman said. “They need to be responsive to the needs of the community . . . to use the money for other purposes, quite frankly, is obscene.”

But City Atty. Vincent F. Biondo Jr. said the money has been used in compliance with the law to build a project--a senior citizens’ center--that will aid the city’s poor.

“We held numerous public hearings before the project went out to bid and the subject of proposed funding was discussed at length,” Biondo said. “No objections were raised. We sought the opinion of outside counsel, and we were told that the expenditure for the center was an appropriate expenditure. We have absolutely no reason to doubt our counsel.”

Rodman, however, said using the housing funds to finance a new senior citizens’ center is improper. And, she said, when it is completed, the center will also house the Carlsbad Unified School District’s administration offices, which she called another inappropriate use of city housing funds.

“The city’s argument is that, because the recreation center will be used by the city’s senior citizens, which includes low- and moderate-income people, they are complying with the law,” Rodman said. “Sure, it might help such people, but it’s not housing. The law says the money must be used exclusively to build or improve housing.”

Interpretation of Law

According to state law, Rodman said, at least 20% of revenue garnered from a city’s redevelopment tax base must be used exclusively to increase and improve the community’s supply of low- and moderate-income housing.

But the city has a different interpretation of the law, according to Biondo, who also is general counsel for the redevelopment agency.

“We don’t think that’s what the law requires,” Biondo said. He argued that the law does not require actual construction of housing and that the new facility meets funding criteria because it improves and enhances the lives of the city’s senior citizens, many of whom live on low or moderate incomes.

“We’re disappointed by the action taken by the Legal Aid Society and feel that it is extremely unfortunate,” Biondo said. “Carlsbad has done more than its fair share in San Diego County to meet its housing needs.

Housing Crunch?

The Legal Aid Society investigated the city’s redevelopment plans when Carlsbad residents and people wishing to move to the city complained about the difficulty of finding housing they could afford, Rodman said.

According to Rodman, a study of 13 cities’ redevelopment plans by the Regional Task Force for the Homeless, a countywide group charged with addressing the needs of the homeless, found that some cities were using housing funds for other projects.

“The study, by the task force’s affordable housing subcommittee, revealed that some cities were being innovative to create needed housing, and that others were using the housing funds for other purposes,” Rodman said. “Carlsbad was one of the latter.”

Federal and state guidelines suggest that a family of modest means should pay no more than 30% of its gross income for shelter, Rodman said.

In 1980, the U. S. Bureau of the Census reported that 83.2% of very low- and low-income Carlsbad households paid far in excess of 25% of their income for housing, Rodman said.