Jordan Downs Sale Opposed; $5 Million in Lost Funds Sought

In a rebuke of the city Housing Authority, the City Council on Wednesday voted 10 to 0 to oppose the sale of the Jordan Downs housing project in Watts and to seek the reinstatement of $5 million in federal modernization funds lost when the agency decided to pursue the sale.

The council also passed a motion, by the same vote, urging the Housing Authority’s commission to inform the council of any plans to transfer projects to other owners, and it asked the agency to submit its long-term plans for all 21 housing projects to the council within 30 days.

Will Seek Funds

Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, whose district includes badly dilapidated Jordan Downs, said she hopes to meet with Jack Kemp, secretary of the federal Housing and Urban Development Department, “to see if I can get the $5 million back.”

Her comments came after a public hearing attended by more than 100 tenants from the troubled city project, at which speaker after speaker decried any plans to sell Jordan Downs. One hotly disputed plan to sell it to a private developer recently fell apart, leading to the resignation March 31 of embattled Housing Authority Director Leila Gonzalez-Correa.

Flores pointedly complained that a decision last fall by Mayor Tom Bradley and Gonzalez-Correa to pursue the sale of Jordan Downs--a move they realized would probably result in the loss of federal funds--was never brought to the council’s attention.

‘Not In the Loop’

“The council was never aware that rehabilitation funds were in jeopardy, and we were not a party to the decision that lost us the rehabilitation funds and resulted in the money being distributed to other areas,” Flores said.

“We were not in the loop,” agreed Councilwoman Gloria Molina. She and council members Zev Yaroslavsky, Marvin Braude, Ruth Galanter and Flores questioned the wisdom of any further discussion of selling the project.

Bradley’s office in March acknowledged that Bradley knew last fall that the proposed sale of the 700-unit complex would likely prompt HUD to rescind the $5 million. The long-awaited money had been set aside for upgrading the decaying buildings and their World War II-era kitchens and bathrooms.

However, the City Council did not learn of the loss of funds for several months. It was discovered by a Legal Aid Foundation lawyer using the Freedom of Information Act in February.

The piqued council members on Wednesday grilled Gary Squier, the new acting director of the agency, demanding to know whether he would ask the Housing Commission to drop all talk of selling the project when it meets today.

However, Squier said he was still pursuing some ideas for selling Jordan Downs--including one to sell it to the tenants themselves rather than to a developer.

If none of those plans seem workable, Squier said he would recommend today that the Housing Authority’s commission instead pursue a major rehabilitation of Jordan Downs and quickly apply for at least $15 million in modernization funds from HUD.

Regardless of his personal leanings, Squier said, he “got the message loud and clear” that the council is opposed to selling, and promised he would take that message to the commission.

Squier, formerly Bradley’s housing coordinator, stepped into the job when Gonzalez-Correa resigned amid a shower of press reports about the ill-fated plan to sell Jordan Downs, about the $5-million loss of funding, and about several contracts she had improperly awarded without seeking bids.

Entering the job amid such turbulence, Squier said he hopes to usher in a new era of communication with angry residents. Squier, who is regarded as the most innovative thinker on housing issues at City Hall, said he will ask that the Housing Authority Commission back the tenants’ request for a full-time paid consultant who will work for the tenants to help them devise their own long-term plan for Jordan Downs.

“From now on, all the options will include a very real role for the tenants,” he said.

Claudia Moore, a tenant leader and outspoken critic of Gonzalez-Correa, praised Squier’s openness, saying he “has only been director for a few days, and already the mood is so different, and everything is on the move. I felt bad for Gary today, because Gonzalez-Correa is the person who should have been sitting in that chair while City Council members got everything off their chests.”