With a growing number of homeowners facing potential foreclosure in a slowing housing market, Los Angeles officials agreed Tuesday to study creating a special emergency loan fund, the Los Angeles Daily News reports.
As part of the move, the City Council’s Housing, Community and Economic Development Committee also said it wants to find $100,000 to help pay for a second effort by Operation Hope to educate and help at-risk homeowners.
But reluctant to follow a proposal by Councilman Richard Alarc n to tap into the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, the panel said it instead wants to review whether to develop guidelines and look for other sources of funding.
“We have spent a long time building this fund up and I think it would be shortsighted to take money from it now,” Council President Eric Garcetti said. “It is the ultimate case of borrowing from one fund to pay off another.”
Alarc n, however, said the $100 million Affordable Housing Trust Fund, seemed a logical source of funding for his proposal. He had proposed taking $5 million from the fund for the effort.
“We have people losing their homes and that creates other problems,” Alarc n said. “If people lose their homes, they will be turning to the government for help.
