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City responds to mayor, former Arcadia councilwoman's budget concerns
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LA County OKs rent relief program for wildfire-, immigration-impacted residents
Supervisor Lindsey Horvath speaks at a rally for rent relief. | Photo courtesy of lindseyphorvath/Instagram
residents. It also calls for the use of another $9.8 million in Affordable Housing Trust Fund money to be used mainly for immigration-impacted residents, although some of that money could also be provided to wildfire victims if there is still "unmet need." During debate on the issue, supervisors increased funding for the program by an additional $10 million, with those dollars also coming from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, to be allocated to the various categories of eligible tenants and landlords. The board also increased caps on the amount of funds that will be available to individual applicants. "By raising the rent relief caps from $5,000 to $15,000 See Rent relief Page 28
Final soil testing confirms high lead levels downwind of Eaton Fire By Joe Taglieri
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more fear going to work, school, and even the grocery store for fear of being detained. Cuts to our social safety net programs and other federal policy changes are leaving our most vulnerable Angelenos even more in need and at risk of losing their housing." The original motion calls for the establishment of a roughly $20 million relief program, offering rental assistance for people who have lost income due to their employment being impacted by the wildfires, people who were displaced from their homes due to the fires, and people experiencing economic hardship due to federal immigration raids. The proposal would take the initial $10 million rent-relief allocation and split it between wildfireand immigration-affected
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By City News Service he county Board of Supervisors Tuesday unanimously approved the creation of a roughly $30 million emergency rent-relief program to assist people still dealing with income or home loss from the January wildfires, and those financially affected by recent federal immigrationenforcement actions. The county had previously established evictionprotection measures and a rent relief program for people affected by the wildfires, identifying $10 million to fund the effort. But according to a motion by Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Hilda Solis that went before the board Tuesday, initial demand for the rent-relief funds was lower than anticipated among wildfire victims, but the need for relief was expected to continue as residents exhaust earlier support they received through FEMA or their insurance carriers. Small landlords are also in need of continued mortgage assistance as they work to repair fire-damaged properties so their tenants can return, according to the motion. "Additionally, our region is bearing the brunt of volatile federal actions," the motion states. "Aggressive immigration enforcement in our neighborhoods and workplaces spreads fear and disrupts our communities and the economy. Thousands of families have lost their primary breadwinners due to raids; thousands
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to cover up to six months of rent and adding $10 million to the overall program, we're giving families real breathing room," Supervisor Kathryn Barger said. "Equally important, these amendments direct our county to gather critical data so we can make smarter, more informed decisions about housing stability. My goal is straightforward: to keep people in their homes and give them stability as they rebuild their lives." Supervisor Janice Hahn said county residents were dealing with "two unprecedented disasters" -- the wildfires and the immigration raids. She said immigration enforcement raids were having a definite impact on many people who fear going to work or even leaving their
higher percentage of soil samples from properties downwind of the Eaton Fire showed levels of lead above healthbased screening thresholds, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported Friday. The county's final findings from post-fire soil testing also confirmed "localized chemical impacts" above screening thresholds in the Palisades Fire area but no evidence of widespread contamination from fire-related chemicals," according to the health department. The Eaton Fire in Altadena, Pasadena and neighboring areas and the wildfire in Pacific Palisades and Malibu combined scorched over 39,000 acres, destroyed tens of thousands of structures and caused 31 deaths in January. Between Feb. 18 and March 26, Roux Associates Inc. analyzed soil and ash samples for levels of harmful substances that may be present after wildfires reach urban areas — heavy metals including lead, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs and dioxins and furans, health officials said. Technicians took representative samples from various parcels in different areas and with different property conditions in and around the Eaton Fire and Palisades Fire areas. "Soil samples were collected throughout a sampling grid of each fire area from destroyed and See Eaton Fire Page 27
intact properties within the burn areas, as well as from properties just outside the burn areas, and results were compared to current California Department of Toxic Substances Control’s (DTSC) residential soil screening level thresholds," according to a health department statement. The county's Eaton Fire Region consists of 70 sampling grids, with 23 containing intact homes with minor or no damage inside the fire zone boundary or nearby properties located outside the boundary. Of the 23 sampling grids for properties with intact homes, 10 grids had average concentrations that were greater than the state's 80 milligrams per kilogram threshold for residential areas, health officials said. The average lead concentration in the 10 grids with samples above the residential screening level ranged between 80.2 and 167 mg/ kg. The increased lead in downwind soil "is consistent with reports of elevated lead in air samples collected in the days immediately following the fire," according to the health department. "The source of lead in the fire is reasonably expected to be from the burning of homes with lead-based paint, which was common prior to 1979." More than 70% of the houses in the Eaton Fire area were built before 1979, the University of Southern