Glendale council and housing authority ask staff to design rental-assistance options after data briefing

Glendale city staff on June 3 briefed the City Council and the Glendale Housing Authority on current, past and possible rental-assistance programs and asked for direction on program goals, target populations and funding priorities.

The briefing, delivered by Peter Zolvak, assistant director of community development, outlined the city’s rental landscape — a population of about 96,500, roughly 46,000 renter-occupied units, a median gross rent of $2,095 and a median renter-household income of $60,773 — and summarized prior programs such as Section 8 vouchers, the monthly housing subsidy program (MHSP), a low-income student rental-assistance pilot and emergency rental assistance (ERAP) distributed during COVID. “We are not expecting council to approve a program today. We’re simply looking for direction,” Zolvak told councilmembers.

The staff presentation quantified prior and current assistance levels: Section 8 voucher averages roughly $1,500 per household per month; MHSP provided a $300 fixed monthly subsidy; the low-income student pilot averaged about $600 per month; LifeRAP averaged about $1,000 per month; and ERAP payments averaged approximately $1,500 per month. Zolvak said the city has previously committed roughly $86.97 million in local funding and about $49.7 million in federal funding to housing initiatives and programs, and that the city currently administers roughly 2,673…