Affordable Housing

GLENDALE — A City Council decision to work out a plan that would let a developer give a $250,000 donation to Habitat for Humanity instead of offering affordable housing in his project has at least one councilman outraged. "This is clearly an end-around what council had asked to be done," Councilman Ara Najarian said. The council voted 3-2 last week to have city staff members, Architect Aram Kazazian, officials from the San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity and their lawyers meet to work out the legal ramifications of Kazazian's proposal to donate $250,000 to Habitat for Humanity's Kenwood Street project, which needs $1.1 million in donations to get off the ground.

CITY HALL — Transportation and housing are among the highest priorities for improvement in the city according to the results of a study presented to the City Council Tuesday which ranked residents' concerns. The results presented, which also included city staff members' input, are part of the city's long-range planning process to prioritize areas of improvement that will be used to develop the 2008 budget. "This is our best effort to consolidate what we've heard from staff and what we've heard from the community," Director of Administrative Services Robert Franz said.

CITY HALL — The City Council offered a concession on Tuesday that would allow a developer to defer for three years $1 million in affordable-housing fees to better weather a weak market, despite fear among some members that it could lead to similar requests from other developers. The offer fell short of the complete fee waiver that A & K Investment Company had requested for its 47-unit, market-rate condominium project at 1838 S. Brand Blvd., which lies within the San Fernando Road Redevelopment Project Area.

CITY HALL — With the city's main affordable housing developer embroiled in allegations that it defrauded Glendale and other cities of millions of dollars, Mayor Ara Najarian this week called for a new approach to providing housing for low-income residents. At the Housing Authority meeting on Tuesday, Najarian questioned the city's current policy of purchasing property to construct affordable housing buildings, which have required subsidies of up to $200,000 per unit and total development costs reaching as high as $500,000 per unit.

CITY HALL — Amid legal efforts to recover millions in alleged construction overcharges from a Los Angeles-based affordable housing developer, officials are also moving to iron out complications related to a fifth Glendale project planned with the firm. The developer, Advanced Development & Investment Inc., is under federal fraud investigation for allegedly bilking cities out of millions with inflated construction invoices. Glendale paid ADI roughly $34 million since 2005 for four projects in south Glendale — some of which the city is trying to recover through a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

CITY HALL — A proposal this week to put military veterans at the front of long waiting list for affordable housing was met with staunch opposition from Mayor Ara Najarian, who said it could create a major backlash from the thousands of people already in line. The City Council in coming months will consider reopening the waiting list for federal rental vouchers to include military veterans, after directing housing officials to draft the proposal. The city's list of 6,479 households for the federally sponsored program, which uses vouchers to subsidize rent payments, was last opened in 2001, at which time veterans were given preference.

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.

CITY HALL — City officials are bracing for the fallout as federal prosecutors investigate the developer of affordable housing projects in Glendale and other cities — Advanced Development & Investment Inc. — on fraud and other allegations. The allegations stem from a report by court-appointed receiver David Pasternak as part of a divorce proceeding involving the company's former president, Salim Karimi, and Jannki Mithaiwala, the daughter of company founder Ajit Mithaiwala.

Once slated for a multifamily housing project, to be built by an affordable housing developer that the city is now suing for fraud, a central Glendale site is on its way to becoming a “Veterans Village.” With a unanimous vote, the City Council, in its dual role as the Housing Authority, agreed to partner with an affordable housing developer on Tuesday to build a roughly $15.5-million project that will give preference to veterans. “It's a great day for Glendale,” said Mayor Frank Quintero, a Vietnam War veteran.