$1.15 Million in Quake Aid Set Aside for Homeowners : Simi Valley: The federal funds will be available for low- and moderate-income residents in the form of grants or low-interest loans.

Saying some earthquake victims still need help, the Simi Valley City Council has set aside $1.15 million in federal aid money to be doled out in $5,000 grants to the poor and $20,000 loans to low- and moderate-income homeowners.

Homeowners and mobile home owners would have to prove that they have exhausted all other sources of emergency aid before applying for the money, which the council appropriated Monday night from a $5.5-million pot of federal emergency money.

The loans and grants could become available as early as August, Deputy City Manager Laura Herron said. But city officials are still waiting for the granting agency--the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development--to give full approval to the aid plan, including a review of its environmental impacts, she said.

The $5,000 grants will be available to owners of houses, condominiums and mobile homes who fit into the low-income category--such as a family of four with an annual income of $39,954 or less.

These people also could be eligible for low-interest loans of up to $20,000, as could any homeowner of low- or moderate income, such as a family of four earning $69,000 a year or less. However, applicants must choose one option or the other, Herron said; no one will be given both a grant and a loan.

At first, city staff recommended that the $5,000 grants be given only to mobile homeowners and the $20,000 loans to owners of houses or condos, but Councilman Bill Davis protested.

Davis said many mobile home owners suffered far more than $5,000 damage, while some people who own houses or condos may be poor enough to qualify for the grants.

“I don’t see how we can separate this grant between a mobile home, a single family home or an apartment,” he said.

In the end, the council agreed that the money will be made available to owners of all types of single-family homes--with grants going to low-income families and loans available to qualified borrowers with low or moderate income.

Herron said Tuesday that the city has not decided whether it will administer the loans itself or hire an outside contractor to do the work.

The money is available only to people who can prove they have already finished the aid application process for money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration and still have at least $10,000 worth of unrepaired damage, she said.

“The loans are deferred loans,” Herron said. “They are required to be paid back at such time as the property is sold or transferred . . . If they’ve already gotten an SBA loan, they’re not going to be in a situation where they can repay it readily. This is a way of taking a hurdle away from people in that situation.”

The City Council also agreed Monday night to spend $50,000 in HUD money on another soil analysis for the city’s hard-hit east end.

A state geologist’s report earlier this month concluded that the earth had stopped moving beneath homes south of Los Angeles Avenue near Yosemite Avenue after the Jan. 17 earthquake, but it conceded that soil near the surface could still be settling.

Angry homeowners pointed to ongoing damage in their houses, calling the report inadequate and demanding that the city pay for a more intensive survey.

This study, said Mayor Greg Stratton, will determine what they must do to stabilize their lots before they start repairing or rebuilding their homes.

The council also voted Monday to spend up to $132,000 of the HUD money to repair earthquake damage to the sides of the Arroyo Simi flood channel.