City’s Rebuilding Plan Makes Dollars and Sense
In his Valley Commentary article attacking affordable housing (“Slam the Door on Low-Income Housing Plan,” Nov. 27) Don Schultz of the Van Nuys Homeowners Assn. misrepresented the city’s Earthquake Emergency Loan Program in several ways.
Mr. Schultz claimed the city is financing the construction of new high-density “slum” housing that will replace modest-sized apartment houses with large ones. None of these assertions is true.
The facts are these:
* The city will receive $325 million from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to rebuild 15,000 to 20,000 housing units damaged in the Northridge earthquake.
* 95% of these funds will go to the rehabilitation of existing buildings; no modest apartments will be replaced by high-density buildings. In fact, in many cases the number of units in rehabilitated buildings will be reduced.
* The physical quality and financial stability of the housing repaired with city funds will be improved over pre-quake conditions.
* 20% to 40% of units repaired will be reserved for working families like those displaced by the earthquake. For example, rents (ranging from $500 to $700) will be affordable to secretaries, medical assistants, grocery checkers and any of the thousands of working people that are the backbone of our city.
The public interest is not well-served by exaggerated and misleading accounts of what is in fact a well-designed and effective response to the most damaging natural disaster in U.S. history. The point missed by Mr. Schultz is that the city of Los Angeles is committed to rebuilding neighborhoods ravaged by the Northridge earthquake.
After Jan. 17, 1994, the Los Angeles Housing Department was challenged with rebuilding homes and restoring confidence in the economic vitality of damaged communities. The department’s staff responded to that challenge, and restoration of thousands of apartments is under way.
GARY W. SQUIER
Los Angeles
Squier is general manager of the Los Angeles Housing Department.
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