Housing Los Angeles County

Editor's note: The following home sales were filed with the Los Angeles County Recorder's Office Oct. 25-31. The information was provided to The Times by First American Real Estate Solutions. ACTON Houses 33105 Santiago Rd., #87, $140,000 AGOURA Houses 5953 Dovetail Dr., 3 BR, 3 BA, $299,000 AGOURA HILLS Houses 5630 Buffwood Pl., 3 BR, 3 BA, $470,000 5349 Francisca Way, 3 BR, 3 BA, $327,000 26850 Hot Springs Pl., 4 BR, 3 BA, $369,000 28965 Valley Heights Dr.

Los Angeles County will receive $111 million as its share of the largest Housing and Urban Development budget passed by Congress since 1981. The housing budget, which includes record funding for community development and housing block grants, will provide a boost to local housing initiatives, but the funding falls far short of what experts say is needed to ease the housing shortage.

Stephanie Hosey sat in a drab motel room in Anaheim's tourist district. She wore a light-gray Mickey Mouse T-shirt. Her black Mickey Mouse sunglasses were perched on top of her head. But Hosey wasn't here to visit Disneyland. This one-room unit at the Covered Wagon has been her home since April. Hosey, who earns little more than minimum wage answering phones at a nearby moving company, can't afford an apartment in the area. She has no savings, nor much of a credit history.

Two working-class cities that compete strongly for local casino gambling dollars are cooperating to build one of the largest single-family housing projects in southeast Los Angeles County. Well, they are cooperating as much as can be expected from two longtime rivals.

The Gonzalez family of Maywood is in a tight spot. Rosalva and Pedro and their six children and two grandchildren live in a cramped, two-bedroom apartment in a poor, rundown neighborhood near railroad tracks and a packing company. At night, the couple share a bedroom with their two youngest daughters--ages 2 and 4--while their three older daughters--ages 10, 14 and 18--and two infant granddaughters cram into the second bedroom. Their 17-year-old son sleeps on a twin bed in the living room.

If December follows a path established earlier this year, San Fernando Valley housing values will end the year at their highest levels since 1992, topping even last year when the local market roared back from the recession-inspired doldrums. Figures released Monday on November home sales and values in the San Fernando Valley put the median price for a single-family home at $222,000, up nearly 14% over the November 1998 figure.

Acknowledging that the housing needs of smaller cities are often eclipsed by those of mammoth Los Angeles, the mayors of six local municipalities on Thursday announced a partnership with Fannie Mae designed to revitalize housing in their communities. The Neighborhood Investment Alliance is a collaborative effort between Fannie Mae, the largest provider of U.S. home mortgages, and the mayors of Carson, Compton, Inglewood, Lynwood, Pasadena and Pomona.

Los Angeles County leads the nation in demand for housing and, with just one new home being built for every six new jobs added in the area, competition for shelter is likely to grow, according to a new study. Orange County and the three other major Southland markets also finished high on the housing-demand list in a quarterly report compiled by the Meyers Group, an Irvine-based housing research firm.

Just weeks after Rent Control Board officials celebrated a U.S. Supreme Court move that bolstered their power, a Los Angeles Superior Judge has mandated that the board relinquish some of its power. Judge Hugh Gardner III ruled that the state's Costa-Hawkins Act, which allows landlords to raise controlled apartment rents to market rates after a tenant moves out voluntarily, supersedes the board's authority to dispute the validity of rent increases in such cases.

For years, only the loftiest reaches of the San Fernando Valley boasted million-dollar homes. Not anymore. Last year, 159 homes in the Valley sold for $1 million or more, according to the Southland Regional Assn. of Realtors--up from 76 the year before. This year's million-dollar market also seems off to a roaring start, with 20 homes closing escrow for $1 million or more in April, the beginning of the home-buying season.