County funds ripe for use

Residents of Los Angeles County’s unincorporated areas will be able to help decide how $53 million in housing and community development funds will be distributed in the next fiscal year.

The county Community Development Commission will hold eight meetings from Tuesday to Oct. 2 at which residents and local organizations can weigh in with their needs on topics such as child-care programs, senior services, home-buyer assistance and graffiti removal. The funds are earmarked for low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.

An “action plan” will be drafted that includes input from the meetings and Los Angeles County supervisors, followed by a 30-day comment period and a public hearing in May. The resulting programs will be implemented July 1.

For a list of meeting dates and sites, visit www.lacdc.org or call (323) 838-7703.

Briefly ...

* The Building Industry Assn. of San Diego is offering a $25,000 reward for help in finding the vandals who torched an apartment project under construction in University City, Calif., on Aug. 1 that caused about $20 million in damage.

* The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.44% last week, up from 6.32% the week before. The average rate on a 15-year mortgage rose to 5.77% from 5.66%. The average one-year adjustable-rate mortgage climbed to 3.98% from 3.88%, according to Freddie Mac.

* U.S. applications for mortgages rose 5.5% in the week ended Aug. 29, the first increase in four weeks, while demand to refinance fell 8.6%, the Mortgage Bankers Assn. of America reported.

* The National Assn. of Realtors forecast a record 5.76 million existing home sales this year, up 3.5% from 5.57 million sales in 2002. New home sales are expected to rise 5.4% to a record of 1.03 million units.