Homeowners Have Yet to Get Repair Loans : Recovery: Despite the early release of $2.8 million in federal grants, county officials now say the funds should be held in reserve.

A month after Ventura County officials gained early release of $2.8 million in federal grants, saying the money was needed for emergency repair of quake-damaged homes, officials have yet to make a single loan to homeowners.

The early release was considered a political coup when the federal grants were doled out a week after the Jan. 17 earthquake. But officials now say the money should be held in reserve and eventually used to fill gaps in state and federal home-repair loan programs.

The $2.8-million Community Development Block Grant was earmarked for the unincorporated portions of the county and six cities--Fillmore, Santa Paula, Ojai, Moorpark, Camarillo and Port Hueneme.

The city of Simi Valley received a separate $738,000 block grant, most of which was earmarked by the City Council for damaged roads and public buildings.

County officials administering the $2.8-million grant have spent about $200,000 for temporary business shelters in Fillmore and Piru. But a program to distribute the remaining $2.6 million is still being worked out, said Marty Robinson, the county’s deputy chief administrator.

Robinson said the county still hopes to develop the kind of program originally planned, which could include loans of up to $25,000 for quake victims to repair their homes. But she said the county is still determining what is needed.

“We don’t know yet who is in need,” Robinson said. “I can say these funds will definitely be used for earthquake repairs. I would be amazed if these funds weren’t necessary. Some money will go to housing, but some might go for infrastructure work. First we have to analyze where it’s needed.”

Ventura County Supervisors Maggie Kildee and Vicky Howard worked strenuously after the disaster to secure release of the funds from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Both buttonholed HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros when he toured Fillmore a few days after the quake.

Pointing to the more than 600 homes that were damaged in the small community, the supervisors told Cisneros that the grants were needed immediately to help make repairs.

Howard drove to Pasadena to pick up the money, presented in a HUD letter of credit.

Despite that initial urgency, Kildee said she is not upset that the county has not solicited applications from homeowners in need.

“I think the important thing is that the money is there,” she said. “But we want to spend the money carefully.”

Disaster aid officials who are working with quake victims say they have heard nothing about the possible county home-loan program.

“You’re talking to a knowledgeable aid officer and, if this money’s out there, I don’t know about it,” said Diane Brady, spokeswoman for the federal Small Business Administration, which administers the federal home-repair loan programs at disaster centers in Fillmore and Simi Valley.

At El Dorado Senior Estates mobile-home park in Fillmore, where more than 200 of the park’s 300 homes suffered serious damage, residents are still making expensive repairs.

Bill Garbanati, the president of the park’s homeowners association, said federal aid officials have done a good job of providing loans for repairs. He said he doubts that a county program with more loans will be needed.

“A lot of people have had to apply for loans and grants,” he said. “This is a senior park with people on fixed incomes in their 70s, 80s and even some in their 90s. The problem isn’t the availability of loans but how to pay for them.”