Affordable Housing

CITY HALL — The City Council on Tuesday put the brakes on a potential affordable-housing project after several members said the process had run afoul of established procedures. The Housing Authority on Tuesday was set to discuss the potential for building a new affordable-housing project on city-owned property near the corner of Sonora Avenue and 5th Street in northwest Glendale. But the City Council postponed any action after several council members questioned a presentation from an affordable-housing developer, which Councilman John Drayman said sounded "an awful lot like an attempt to circumvent a process.

CITY HALL — Habitat for Humanity's seventh Glendale project — a $3.7-million, five-unit affordable-housing complex near the Ventura (134) Freeway — will break ground next year after it received city approval Tuesday. The City Council voted 4 to 0 on Tuesday to provide the property at 624-630 Geneva Street — which the city bought in 2006 for $2.5 million — to the nonprofit to build five three-bedroom units and a community garden. "I think this is going to be a terrific asset to the city," said Councilman John Drayman.

Robert Chacon Rising rents drove Maryam Radman out of Glendale four years ago, and an affordable-housing project brought her back. Her new home, Heritage Park at Glendale, held a grand-opening ceremony Wednesday. It is the latest affordable-housing project completed in the city and the 11th such development providing more than 620 units for low-income seniors, families and disabled residents. "I love it here," Radman said. "It is very comfortable.

Sona Mooradian, an administrative analyst for the city’s Housing Authority, is scheduled to appear live Thursday on “The Larry Zarian Show” to discuss the state of affordable housing in Glendale. Demand has typically far outstripped the supply of affordable housing in Glendale, despite a slate of development built over the past several years. Mooradian will likely discuss the length of current wait lists for housing vouchers and entry into the stock of affordable housing projects in Glendale and what plans the city has for future developments.

In 1977, I returned home from the Air Force as a disabled veteran, beat down and almost helpless at the age of 21. I began an incredible journey through red tape, poverty and doors slammed in my face. I was never told "welcome home," and I feel unwelcome as of today. I begged for help as I struggled to support myself, my wife and two sons. I was told that the veterans disability compensation I received made me ineligible for assistance. I tried to hold down more than 50 jobs.

Officials this week broke ground on a new affordable housing development that will feature 20 one- and two-bedroom apartments. The Catalina Development - funded by the city's Redevelopment Agency - will the first all-new residential project for the nonprofit Burbank Housing Corp., which will end up owning and operating the venture. The nonprofit typically rehabs existing buildings to use for low-income housing, but the Catalina property was “so substandard and severely blighted,” executive director Judith Arandes said, that nothing could be salvaged.

CITY HALL — As federal officials begin to investigate alleged fraud surrounding Advanced Development & Investment Inc., city officials are grappling with what it means for the dozens of low-income families hoping to move into the affordable housing developer's latest project. ADI — under federal investigation for allegations that the firm's top officials transferred millions to personal accounts and bilked cities out of millions in taxpayer dollars — has built four projects in Glendale and received nearly $34 million in city assistance.

City officials this week tabled plans to use 1.5 acres in Northwest Glendale for affordable housing, choosing instead to explore turning the land into a park. During a meeting Tuesday, City Council members, acting in their dual role as the Housing Authority, said the parcel at Sonora Avenue and Fifth Street would be a prime location for a park. But since the site was purchased using affordable housing set-aside funds, the city will have to refund that money - $6 million - and tap the general funds.

Josh Kleinbaum By settling on a number, the Glendale City Council could determine how much and how quickly new affordable housing projects are built. In a joint meeting with the city's Redevelopment Agency and Housing Authority, the council will decide how to implement the affordable housing requirement in the San Fernando Road redevelopment area, including how much to charge developers who want the city to handle the requirement for them. The council changed the area's zoning in August to allow for housing, and state law requires affordable housing in redevelopment zones.

Another blow is coming by way of the New Horizons Family Center. Its lender, Bank of the West, has scheduled a foreclosure sale for the end of the month - a move that likely will prevent Glendale from recouping $16,000 the city is owed by the now-defunct nonprofit. The bank's roughly $1.07 million foreclosure sale is set for May 24. But Glendale is so far down on the list of creditors that it probably won't see a penny. “Unfortunately, it appears there may not be anything left over for us,” said city spokesman Tom Lorenz.

Six Glendale employees received layoff notices last week. They are the first of more than two dozen who are expected to be cut from the city's payroll due to the loss of local redevelopment revenues. The employees are split evenly between management and non-management staff and include two planning assistants, an economic development manager, a redevelopment project manager, a neighborhood services field representative and an administrative analyst, said city spokesman Tom Lorenz in an email.

Six Glendale employees received layoff notices last week, the first of more than two dozen who are expected to be cut from the city's payroll due to the loss of local redevelopment revenues. The employees are split evenly between management and non-management staff and include two planning assistants, an economic development manager, a redevelopment project manager, a neighborhood services field representative and an administrative analyst, said city spokesman Tom Lorenz in an email.

The indictment against John Drayman on Tuesday was only the latest in legal woes the former city councilman has had to grapple with over the last several years. Some of his troubles - namely those associated with an expensive home remodel tied to an affordable housing developer accused of bilking Glendale of millions of dollars via inflated construction bills - came to light as he sought, and eventually lost, reelection. A look back at the major developments in the legal web Drayman has found himself in: INVESTIGATION Advanced Development and Investment Inc. - the Los Angeles-based developer responsible for most of Glendale's large scale affordable housing projects - has been under federal investigation for more than a year.

Historic downtown buildings that house homeless families from Pasadena and Glendale are now showing the planet some love. On Thursday, Union Station Homeless Services unveiled the eco-friendly renovation of Euclid Villa, funded by a $1.18 million Los Angeles County Community Development Commission grant. Among other improvements, the 14-unit complex near the Pasadena Convention Center received solar panels, energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, new flooring, a garden makeover with drought-tolerant plants and a padded-cork surface for its playground.

City officials have turned down a proposal from Los Angeles affordable housing developer PATH Ventures to build a veterans facility in South Glendale, citing its steep price tag. During a closed-door meeting last week, the City Council, it in its dual role as Housing Authority, rejected PATH Venture's roughly $1.4-million proposal to purchase a property on the 1200 block of South Maryland Avenue, formerly owned by the now-defunct nonprofit New...

Glendale has yet to get back the roughly $1 million it loaned to an affordable housing developer it's now suing, but last week the City Council took over one of Advanced Development Investment, Inc.'s properties after some legal back-and-forth. As a result, the council, acting in its dual role as Housing Authority, will have to decide how to use the vacant lot once slated for a 36-unit affordable housing rental property at 327-333 Salem St. “We're discussing the options,” said Councilman Ara Najarian in a phone interview.

For Ascencia, Glendale's largest homeless services provider, the end of redevelopment could mean an annual loss of $50,000 through 2015. Ascencia has a contract with Glendale's Redevelopment Agency for $50,000 each fiscal year through 2015 to help fund an emergency housing program. But with redevelopment agencies dissolved under a state-imposed plan, Executive Director Natalie Profant Komuro said she's not counting on the money. “It's a serious loss of money and we're going to need to figure out how to fill the gap,” she said.

Glendale's legal tab for fighting an affordable-housing developer who allegedly bilked millions from the city are about to double. On Tuesday, the City Council, acting in its multiple roles as the Redevelopment Agency and the Housing Authority, voted to spend $150,000 more on a fraud lawsuit filed against Advanced Development & Investment Inc. last year in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The city so far has paid $127,000 to Burke, Williams and Sorensen, a law firm assisting Glendale in the case.

On Dec. 29, the California Supreme Court upheld the Legislature's dissolution of all redevelopment agencies across California. The impact of this legislation on the city of Glendale cannot be overstated. Quite simply, millions of dollars of local tax revenue, which would have been invested in our community, must now be redirected to Sacramento. There are currently efforts to postpone the dissolution of redevelopment.  While this step would give cities the ability to better plan for the future, the real solution is for the Legislature to create a new mechanism that would allow cities to continue to create jobs, attract needed investment, initiate economic development, provide well-planned and quality affordable housing, clean up blight and enhance public safety.