Glendale housing authority and council approve purchase of Metro Loma first trust deed to avert foreclosure and preserve affordability

The Glendale Housing Authority and Glendale City Council voted May 20 to buy the first trust deed on Metro Loma Apartments, a 44‑unit affordable housing project at 328 Mira Loma Avenue, to stop a foreclosure that staff said would extinguish the city's subordinate loans and likely eliminate the property's affordability covenants.

City staff presented a plan that would inject a total of $2,255,000 into the project, apportioned pro rata between the Glendale Housing Authority and the Los Angeles County Development Authority (LACDA). Under the formula staff proposed, Glendale’s share is about 77.6 percent and LACDA’s share 22.4 percent; staff asked the housing authority and council to authorize $1,373,891 at this meeting, which reflects the larger figure while backing out a $376,000 draw the authority approved in March.

The project has been in operation since February 2009 and, staff said, has run at a negative cash flow, with last year’s shortfall around $200,000. Mike Fortney, deputy director of housing, told the board that the first‑position lender CCRC stopped payments on its loan in November and has initiated foreclosure. Fortney said purchasing the first trust deed, combined with reserves, targeted repairs, a…