Countywide : Fire Victims Loan Program Approved

A $1-million, no-interest loan program to help fire victims and other local residents obtain rental housing won unanimous approval Tuesday from the Board of Supervisors.

The new program would distribute money through local nonprofit housing agencies during the next three years and is expected to benefit working low-income families, including those who may have lost homes in the recent wildfires.

“What we are doing today could avert homelessness for hundreds of people,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Harriett M. Wieder said Tuesday. “When this was first proposed, who could have envisioned that we could be faced with homelessness caused by fire.”

Funding for the program will be drawn from investment proceeds that have accumulated in the county’s housing bond fund. County officials said they hope that up to $200,000 could be distributed in each of the county’s five supervisorial districts.

Officials said that recipients would be identified through nonprofit agencies and those approved would be eligible for one-time loans of up to $2,000. Terms of repayment would be worked out between the agencies and recipients, but would not include interest or finance charges. Collection would be monitored by the county’s Housing and Redevelopment Agency.

In other action, supervisors also voted Tuesday to open the bidding process for developers interested in building a $59-million courthouse to alleviate cramped conditions and accommodate rising caseloads in South Orange County Municipal Court.

Currently, South County cases are split between a courthouse in Laguna Niguel and a smaller court annex eight miles away in Laguna Hills. County officials are planning to build one new courthouse that would serve the entire area, including San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Mission Viejo and Laguna Beach.