La Puente : Loan Program Expanded

A reported increase in the number of illegal conversions of garages into living quarters prompted the City Council on Tuesday to expand a housing rehabilitation loan program to include room additions.

Rick Hartmann, director of Planning and Community Development, said the city has 78 cases in which homeowners were cited for the illegal conversions. In some instances, he said, garages have been used to house entire families.

The loans would help homeowners add rooms legally rather than use garages for housing, Hartmann said.

Money for the deferred-loan program, which allows low- and moderate-income homeowners to borrow as much as $25,000 for room additions necessitated by overcrowding, are provided through the Community Development Block Grant.