Valleywide : CRA to Issue Bonds for Quake Recovery

Continuing its quake recovery efforts, a Los Angeles redevelopment panel voted Thursday to spend $101,000 to hire lawyers and underwriters to issue $12.4 million in bonds to provide quake repair loans.

The Community Redevelopment Agency took the action to provide low-interest loans to quake victims in four redevelopment projects established in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood.

The bonds are the first to be issued by the CRA since establishing the so-called “earthquake disaster assistance projects” last year, said Peirre Lorenger, the CRA’s deputy administrator for financing.

He said the CRA plans to issue additional bonds each year for the next five years. In total, the CRA expects to provide $34.3 million in low-interest loans through the use of grants and bond measures.

The CRA has never issued bonds for such quake recovery areas before and is uncertain what type of interest rates the bond market will give it, Lorenger said. But he guessed it could be just over 5.25%.

Although the CRA has already issued loans in the quake projects with money from federal grants, Lorenger said the low-interest loans generated by the bonds should begin to reach quake victims in February or March.