Glendale approves MOU with La Casa to receive Measure A funds; staff to return with program templates by Oct. 1

The Glendale City Council and Housing Authority on Aug. 19 authorized staff to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (La Casa) for disbursement of Measure A funds to Glendale.

Peter Zovac, assistant director of community development, said La Casa was created under state legislation (SB 679) and that voters approved Measure A to raise a half‑cent sales tax in Los Angeles County to fund homeless prevention and affordable housing. Zovac told the council staff estimates Glendale will receive approximately $5,100,000 from La Casa in the current fiscal year, broken into categories for technical assistance, renter protections/homeless prevention, new production and preservation/rehabilitation.

Zovac described the approximate split: about $350,000 for technical assistance; $2,100,000 for renter protections and homeless prevention programs (RPHP); and the remainder split roughly into $2,400,000 for production (new construction) and about $600,000 for preservation/rehabilitation. Zovac added that homeless‑services funding under a separate local solutions fund is estimated at roughly $465,000, bringing the total from La Casa‑linked sources to about $5,600,000 for Glendale.

"They are asking us to execute the MOU," Zovac said, and staff then must wait for La Casa to release budget templates and program guidelines. He said staff expects to return to the council and housing authority with proposed budget templates and program details ahead of La Casa deadlines.

Council members and staff discussed how detailed the Oct. 1 budget templates must be; Zovac said La Casa had not yet finalized the level of granularity it will accept and that staff is awaiting guidance. He warned that La Casa is a new agency with limited staffing and that program rules are still being revised at the La Casa board level.

Several council members urged active communication with the region's La Casa board representative to ensure Glendale priorities are communicated; Zovac said Glendale's direct representative on the La Casa board is the Santa Clarita mayor and that staff had not yet scheduled a formal briefing with that office.

Public comment during the meeting included residents who urged broad distribution of rental assistance dollars rather than large awards to a small number of households. Beth Brooks criticized proposed program amounts in a preliminary staff packet and urged spreading small amounts to more households; a caller, Fernando Roldan, urged attention to accessibility for people with disabilities in any funded housing.

Council members voted to authorize the MOU and directed staff to continue refining program proposals. Staff said they will return with program templates and a draft agenda for the planned housing summit and will submit budget templates to La Casa before the Oct. 1 deadline if possible. The council also continued a related item about preliminary program proposals for additional discussion next week so all council members could participate.