State Aids Apartments Hit by Quake

State housing officials doled out $2 million in disaster relief to Los Angeles and Santa Clarita on Wednesday to help rebuild low-rent apartments damaged in the Northridge earthquake.

The money was the final allocation from $7.9 million in federal disaster funds awarded to the California Department of Housing and Community Development. The newly released funds are meant for rental units that serve low-income families.

Los Angeles will receive $1.25 million and Santa Clarita will receive $985,950 to rehabilitate quake-damaged apartments.

“This money is another effort of my administration to ensure we completely recover from the Northridge earthquake,” Gov. Pete Wilson said in a prepared statement.

Although the grant was welcome, Gary Squier, the general manager of the Los Angeles Housing Department, said the money is only a fraction of what is necessary to reconstruct damaged rental units in Los Angeles.

“It’s important,” he said. “But . . . we need an additional $48 million to finish the job.”

Squier said his agency also received a separate state grant of $750,000 on Wednesday, the anniversary of the 1994 quake. Those funds are meant to assist buyers in purchasing multifamily units that had been repossessed by banks.

“This is a banner day,” he said.

Santa Clarita earthquake recovery officials plan to use their allocation to repair about 60 units whose owners were unable to qualify for funds from either private insurance or government programs.

“We’re now launching a fairly significant housing effort to be responsive to earthquake needs that haven’t been able to be met by insurance,” said Mike Haviland, the city’s marketing and economic development manager. “[The grant] helps us target a market niche.”

Individual grants are expected to be $15,000, with the newly awarded funds being combined with private dollars to make repairs.

Santa Clarita officials were unable to say how much of a dent this would make in the overall backlog of unrepaired rental units. State housing officials, however, estimated that the grant would take care of one-third of the city’s apartment rehabilitation needs.