GLENDALE : HUD Offers Rent Aid to Quake Victims

The Glendale Housing Authority is scheduled to vote today on whether to accept $2.2 million in emergency rental certificates from the federal government.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is providing the city with the certificates, meant for low-income families who were displaced by the Jan. 17 earthquake, after assessing damage to the city’s rental units, said Ray Vargas, housing programs administrator.

Glendale sustained more than $30.5 million in property damage from the 6.8-magnitude temblor--with a majority of these damages centered in the city’s homes and apartment units, according to the city’s office of emergency services.

About 600 of the city’s 50,000 housing units, many of them made of masonry and brick, were labeled unsafe following the temblor, Vargas said.

Since the quake, the Community Development and Housing Department has received more than 400 applications for emergency housing assistance. More than 200 of these families have received approval for aid, including 120 families who found alternate housing using aid from the housing authority’s current Section 8 program.

Applicants for HUD assistance must fall below income limits of $16,900 a year for a one-person household, $19,300 a year for a family of two and $24,150 a year for a family of four. The city still has slots available to receive aid, Vargas said.

HUD assistance becomes available if a local building inspector determines that the house or apartment cannot be lived in, Vargas said.

Applicants, who are required to show they are a U.S. citizen or living here lawfully, must also provide documentation that the family lived in the house listed on an aid application.

HUD will reduce or increase funding available to the city depending on the demand for housing assistance, Vargas said.

After an 18-month period specified by the contract, residents will be required to enter into lease agreements with landlords without the rental subsidy, Vargas said.