FEMA Extends Rental Aid for Quake-Hit Homeowners : Assistance: Program deadline is pushed back to Jan. 17, 1996, after the agency receives complaints from two Valley lawmakers.

Responding to protests from two San Fernando Valley congressmen, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to extend rental assistance for six months to homeowners still awaiting completion of earthquake repairs.

Approval of the appeals means the assistance program will be extended from July 17 until Jan. 17, 1996.

“It became obvious a few months ago that if the deadline were enforced, people would be in bad shape while they were waiting for their homes and condos to be repaired,” Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) said Monday.

Also lobbying the agency for an extension of the assistance program was Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City).

Cory LaBianca, a FEMA spokesman in Pasadena, said a majority of the 1,700 families eligible for rental aid are condominium owners. Some of those complained they were wrongly told by FEMA officials that their homes were not damaged badly enough to be eligible for rental aid. Nearly 200 angry condominium owners described their plight to Beilenson at a meeting in Encino in March.

LaBianca said the maximum rental subsidy is about $1,150 per month.

Meanwhile, a second subsidy program providing financial assistance to about 7,000 low-income renters in the San Fernando Valley, and 11,000 across the city, may soon be closed out, local housing officials said.

Wendy Greuel, a Department of Housing and Urban Development field operations officer in Los Angeles, said no final decision has been made on the program. She did say, however, that top HUD officials are seeking funding for the assistance program in this year’s federal budget.

The program, administered by the city’s Housing Authority, also assists low-income residents trying to find permanent housing, said David Clark, who heads the program.

“Before the quake, about one in five people in Los Angeles lived in substandard housing arrangements,” Clark said. “We try to teach them to think outside the box they normally think in.”

Participants’ average household income is $10,525. According to HUD, the average rent for its recipients was $683, of which the HUD program paid $497 to the landlord.

Funding for most recipients will expire by October, Clark said.

George Patouliotis, a 26-year-old student from North Hollywood who cares for his disabled mother, is worried about their future.

Unless he finds another source of assistance when the program ends, he said, “I’m either going to have to cut a deal with the landlord or move to a cheaper place.”