City Charts Path of Lease Resistance

GLENDALE —  On his way home from work, City Councilman Sheldon Baker occasionally takes a different route, down Garfield Avenue or Windsor Road. He slows to examine the condition of buildings, the age of apartments and houses and the number of parks.

“I always wonder what these homes looked like before,” said Baker, a Glendale resident since 1945. “Have they done something with them? Were they old and historic homes?”

This is not idle reminiscing; Baker is leading a controversial effort to increase the city’s proportion of homeowners by 20%, boosting it to 60%, a level it hasn’t seen in more than 40 years. It’s the beginning of a movement that could change the appearance--and makeup--of this city.

“I’ve talked to people in government and around the country, people who research this in academic circles and they all say that the key to a community is homeownership,” said Baker, who last month led the City Council to allocate $20,000 for a survey to analyze what keeps people from buying homes in Glendale.

The city’s current 60% renter majority is among the highest in the area, shared by Los Angeles. That compares unfavorably to many other San Fernando and Santa Clarita valley communities. More than 75% of the residents of Santa Clarita, for example, own their homes.

Critics say that what’s at issue isn’t the positive effects of home ownership, but rather how that goal is accomplished.

“Homeownership has great advantages to a community in terms of people’s sense of becoming stakeholders in that community,” said Paul Zimmerman, executive director for the West Hollywood Community Housing Corp. “But that desirable result has to be weighed against the need to provide enough housing for all our citizens, even if they can only afford to rent.”

But city officials believe that many current Glendale apartment renters could become homeowners with increased support from the city.

The greatest obstacles to potential home buyers in Glendale, said Madalyn Blake, a member of the city-appointed committee charged with studying homeownership strategies, are the lack of starter houses available and the inability of residents to make down payments.

House Prices Are Higher

People hoping to buy in Glendale face prices substantially higher than for the average greater Los Angeles area house. For example, in August the median price for houses sold in Glendale was $253,250, compared with the $201,090 median price for a similar home in greater Los Angeles, according to the California Assn. of Realtors. That’s for homes that generally include two bedrooms and one bath and are about 60 years old, said Debra L. Brzescinski, a real estate agent for Prudential California Realty in Glendale.

Condominiums in Glendale also sell for nearly 15% more than the average price in Los Angeles County. Brzescinski estimated that a 900-square-foot unit built in the late 1970s would sell for about $160,000 in Glendale, compared with a countywide average of $140,000.

“In general, the houses in Glendale are more expensive than those in neighboring cities, like Burbank,” said Sharon Kinlaw, senior housing coordinator for the Fair Housing Council for San Fernando Valley. “It’s just an area in demand.”

The city hopes to overcome the price barriers by expanding its current first-time home buyer program, which provides buyers with second mortgages.

But that only places families into existing houses. Considering the city’s dwindling number of undeveloped lots, the largest opportunity lies in the conversion of apartments into condominiums, Blake said.

While the city contemplates how to target apartments for condominium conversion, and how to encourage absentee owners to sell their houses, some fair-housing advocates take issue with these approaches.

“My question is, what are you going to do with the people already there?” asked Kinlaw.

The committee has no concrete plans for this scenario.

“It’s one issue we’re grappling with,” said committee chairwoman Nancy Burke. “The intent is not to displace people. We’re looking at all kinds of financial options.”

City’s South End Targeted

Kinlaw points out that with condominium ownership comes the task of coordinating each of those owners’ interests and responsibilities.

“In some cases conversions did work, but in others, they turn into big messes,” she said.

While city officials concede the decisions will be difficult, they haven’t made clear how much force they would use.

“Certainly, we’re going to be looking at carrots--meaning incentives--but one never knows,” Blake said.

Not only does the committee have the task of boosting home ownership; the ultimate goal also involves removing blight and preserving neighborhoods.

The south end of town has captured the committee’s early interest because it is where the housing is most dense and household incomes are lower than the city average.

At the same time, the committee has identified among the city’s “opportunities” a “population of younger, single employees with good salaries” who are attracted to Glendale and want to live closer to their animation jobs in Glendale and Burbank.

“As a fair-housing person, that’s disturbing because that involves preferences,” Kinlaw said.

Some housing experts question the larger issue of how the conversions will play a role in accommodating the booming number of people looking for homes. Glendale’s population has grown more than 42% since 1980, from 139,060 to 197,560.

“Apartments being converted into condominiums probably will not be as conducive to large families,” said Elsie Christison, executive director of the Foothill Apartment Assn., whose membership includes Glendale apartment owners. “So the city would pretty much be limiting the number of people who would be able to access that kind of housing.”

Survey to Gauge Interest in Effort

Although Christison said she doesn’t think many of her association’s owners of small apartment houses are interested in condominium conversions now, that may change.

“I think it’s very likely [the city] will be able to pull it off because rental units are scarce and if people are having trouble finding housing, and if they are in the position to buy, they will, especially if the housing was converted without a great deal of additional expense,” she said.

The committee will soon find that out, commissioning its telephone survey as early as next month, and possibly conducting a few focus groups.

“We recognize this may lay the framework for housing and how it develops in Glendale for the next 10 years,” said committee member Vernon Taylor.

“It leads into much broader considerations.”

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Homeowners Needed

Glendale’s current 61% renter majority is among the highest in the area. The greatest obstacles to potential home buyers in the city are the lack of starter houses available and the inability of residents to make down payments.

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City Own Rent Glendale 39% 61% Los Angeles 39.4% 60.6% Pasadena 47% 53% Burbank 46% 54% Torrance 56% 44% Santa Clarita 76% 24%

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Source: 1990 U.S. Census