Affordable Housing

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.

CITY HALL — Low-income residents looking for affordable housing will have several opportunities this summer to enter lotteries for federally subsidized complexes. Applications are available for a new 23-unit community currently under construction for extremely low-income adults with disabilities who, for a family of two, must earn no more than $15,850 a year. In coming months, applications will be available for two new affordable family housing projects — the 68-unit Glendale City Lights and 30-unit Gardens on Garfield — which are under construction.

Joshua Pelzer The city's efforts at increasing affordable housing have netted a $55,000 grant from the state to help furnish and stock the library portion of the Edison-Pacific Project. The city received the funding as part of a state program that rewards cities for developing affordable housing consistent with their high job growth. Glendale is considered such an area because of its location in Los Angeles County, which ranked first among state counties with more than 4.8 million employed in July, according to its figures.

Tim Willert GLENDALE CITY HALL -- The public will get a chance to weigh in Tuesday on a pair of significant Section 8 policy changes being considered by the Housing Authority. Under one of the changes, the city would be allowed by federal law to screen applicants and tenants for drug-related and other criminal activity. Under the proposal, the Community Development and Housing division, which administers the program with funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, would work in concert with Glendale Police to check criminal backgrounds.

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — A 30-unit, $13-million affordable housing project will soon rise from the gaping hole at 303 E. Garfield Ave., but even as stakeholders celebrated the groundbreaking Thursday, city officials said the days of successive low-income housing developments had drawn to a close. After more than five years of ushering in one city-subsidized housing project after another, the Housing Authority finds itself in no position to take on another multimillion-dollar development as the worsening economy continues to freeze up the credit market, city officials said.

SOUTH GLENDALE — Financing for a 30-unit affordable housing project on Garfield Avenue was finalized this week, adding to the 140 low-income rental units that were already planned for completion next year in south Glendale. The City Council and Housing Authority voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize $4.21 million in city subsidies for the 30-unit Gardens on Garfield rental complex in south Glendale, where two other major affordable housing projects are already planned for next year.