Crime, Decay in L.A.-Run Housing Spur Study by City

Los Angeles city officials will select a panel of experts this week to find ways to improve living conditions at city-run public housing projects, some of which have become overwhelmed by gangs, drug trafficking and vandalism.

The panel was authorized by the City Council at the request of harbor-area Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, whose district includes about half of the public housing units in the city. Flores said in an interview that run-down conditions and unchecked crime at many of the projects prompted her to push for an independent review of conditions there.

“They deal drugs right in front of you, out in the open,” Flores said. “You can imagine how upsetting that is for mothers with kids. It isn’t right. This is government housing, and there should be standards.”

The panel is expected to look into a wide range of options, including tearing down the projects and replacing them with developments that integrate public and private housing.

It is expected to make recommendations in November to the City Council, which will then report to the city’s Housing Authority.

The Housing Authority is an independent agency financed largely by rents and federal subsidies. The City Council exerts indirect influence over it through the authority’s board of commissioners, which is appointed by the mayor with council approval.

The study will focus on the 21 housing projects operated by the authority, including three in the South Bay: the 479-unit Rancho San Pedro in San Pedro, the 400-unit Normont Terrace in Harbor City and the 384-unit Dana Strand Village in Wilmington. Four other projects in Flores’ district are in Watts.

Most of the authority’s projects were built in the 1940s. Some, such as Normont Terrace, were developed as temporary military quarters and were never intended as public housing.

The panel’s work is separate from a study to be conducted later this summer by a private consultant for the Housing Authority. That study will determine how the projects can be redesigned to increase the number of units, improve security and possibly add private housing, offices or shops.

Portions of the studies may overlap, but Flores defended the double effort, saying the problems are so great that both the city and the agency need to brainstorm on how to solve them.

“The housing projects need all the help they can get,” Flores said.

Flores said she began pushing for the city study about a year and a half ago because of her frustration with the authority. The problem-ridden agency, which is under new leadership, for years refused to respond to complaints from residents and city officials about crime and run-down conditions, she said.

“We had people complaining all the time, and nothing was being done,” Flores said.

The agency’s former executive director, Homer Smith, had been criticized by his own employees, city officials and private consultants for allegedly bad contracting practices, wasteful spending and dictatorial personnel moves within the authority. Smith resigned in November, 1985, and was replaced in October, 1986, by Leila Gonzalez-Correa, who had headed the housing authority in Austin, Tex.

Flores said the City Council’s decision to conduct a study of its own is not meant to imply that the Housing Authority remains unresponsive or that its new director is not doing her job. Instead, she said, it reflects an awareness among council members that the agency cannot solve problems at the projects by itself.

“There is no reason why we can’t work together,” Flores said. “There is only so much (Gonzalez-Correa) can do. . . . I want to give her some clout by showing her that she has the support of the City Council.”

Gonzalez-Correa, who has met several times with Flores to discuss problems in the housing projects, acknowledged in an interview that the agency is recovering from hard times, but said the authority is working to improve its image and accountability.

Centralized Lists

One of the most important changes under way, she said, has been centralization of waiting lists at the various projects. Until recently, each project maintained a list of its own and accepted and rejected its own applicants. With thousands of people signed up on more than one list, officials had no way to gauge the true need for public housing. In addition, poor tenants evicted from one project could get into another one.

“We are cleaning the lists now, and eventually we will have a citywide list,” Gonzalez-Correa said. “We are also going to be computerized, so there will be no way that anyone can alter their place on the list.”

The agency has also stepped up its effort to evict bad tenants and ensure that they are replaced by good tenants, she said. The agency intends to hire its own attorney to prosecute eviction cases, and she is considering allowing resident councils at the projects to have a say in approving applications.

“You go to the projects and the people are frustrated because they say they used to have such good neighbors, but those people are gone because they are afraid to stay there,” Gonzalez-Correa said. “We certainly don’t want to discriminate against our tenants, but we do have to screen our tenants. The law provides for that.”

There was some opposition to the city study from the authority and its board, possibly because of concerns that the council was meddling in the authority’s business, City Hall sources said. But Gonzalez-Correa said she supports the City Council study, particularly since Flores amended its scope during committee discussions to include a look at alternatives to public housing for low-income people.

“We need to get our people through the projects and get them some jobs and help them improve their lives,” she said. “Public housing was supposed to be a stepladder. You were supposed to move in and up and out.”

The 11-member city panel will include representatives from various city departments, the Housing Authority and the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as a tenant from one of the projects and an academic authority.

Janetta Dobbins, a resident of Normont Terrace who heads its residents council, said residents there would support the study if it leads to improvements at the project. Housing Authority officials have said that Normont Terrace, which has a very low housing density, is the most likely candidate for redevelopment, giving residents of the former military barracks hope for change.

“We are interested in redevelopment because this place is run down and is getting unsightly,” Dobbins said. “We know it is a slow process, but if this study helps move things along, we are for it.”