Allocation Plan OKd for Housing Grants : Regulations: Distribution of HUD low-income funds approved, despite heated allegations from residents of unincorporated El Modena.

Despite opposition from El Modena residents who protested the county’s method of distributing federal low-income housing grants, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a plan Tuesday for allocating the money.

The board’s vote came one day after residents of El Modena, an unincorporated county area near Orange, sent a letter to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, asking the agency to withhold federal grants and to re-examine the way county officials go about dividing the money in the neighborhood. Community activists have alleged conflicts of interest and mismanagement in the allocation process.

“With this (vote), the board is saying, ‘We have complied with the HUD guidelines, now give us the money,’ ” said Sam Rodriguez, a member of the Concerned Citizens of El Modena. “We’re saying that they’ve rigged the process.”

County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider said the group’s complaints are the only ones the county has received in the 15 years that the program has existed regarding allocation of HUD money in 14 county target areas.

The allocation plan approved by the supervisors Tuesday will be sent to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for approval.

El Modena activists have been feuding with officials of the county housing and community development program since February, when they alleged that the chairwoman of the local advisory committee, Annie Quintana, had not solicited enough public response to the question of which projects should be funded. They also alleged that Quintana has a conflict of interest because she has in the past received four HUD loans.

The same activists also alleged that the director of the county housing program, Dhongchai (Bob) Pusavat, had helped Quintana obtain county and federal money while her daughter, Michele, was his employee.

Pusavat and other county officials have denied allegations of favoritism.

The county investigated the allegations at the request of HUD officials and found no wrongdoing.

In a letter to the El Modena residents, HUD’s Los Angeles program manager, Aurora Madrigal, said the agency “accepted the (county’s) finding of no conflict of interest on the part of housing/community development staff or citizen volunteers”

Madrigal added, however, that the agency “also accepts the (county’s) acknowledgement that administrative deficiencies may have occurred” in changing the public notification requirements.

HUD officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.