Tahitian Terrace is on the hillside above the ocean. Next to it, is the Palisades Bowl Mobile Home Park. This is what the park looked like prior to the Palisades Fire.
This was Tahitian Terrace after the fire.
In the Palisades, 1,169 applications for Household Relief Grants were funded for $10.64 M. In Altadena 2,249 applications were funded for $21.10M. A total of $31.79M in grant relief was given in amounts of $6,000, $12,000 or $18,000.
Palisades residents in L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath’s district received less than half of Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s district.
A resident wrote CTN on September 23, “I lived in Tahitian Terrace and after applying with a very detailed application for the Los Angeles County Household Relief Grant [LACHRC], I called several times to see if funding was available and never got clear answers as to how the funds were being distributed and who was eligible. Then I received this email today.
“We appreciate your application” . . .but “we regret to inform you that all funds in this program have been exhausted, and grant awards are no longer available..As previously shared, please note that submitting an application and/or being fully validated did not guarantee a grant amount.” Thank you, Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs.
A number was given to call, so CTN called to ask how many people had applied and how many grants had been given in Altadena and to Palisadians. It was the first of many calls.
Finally, CTN got Brandon on the line, who promised my request would be forwarded to the media department.
It was not, so CTN called again.
On October 7, Keven Chavez, public information officer for LA County Consumer and Business Affairs, responded “Apologies for the delay in responding to your initial phone call to TCBL. The message got bounced around a bit, but it’s in the right place now.”
CTN asked 1) how many people applied for a grant? 2) how many people received a grant? 3) were all the grants the same amount of money? and if so how much? or if not, the range?
On October 15, CTN reached out to Keven. “I’ve called several times and reached out with my questions. No one has ever responded with answers: Does that mean the County doesn’t know or doesn’t have records?”
He responded, “When we received your inquiry, we were right around the corner from publishing our results and dashboard for the Household Relief Grant. It took a few days longer than expected, but on Tuesday, we issued a press release and launched a new webpage with a dashboard with important facts about the grant which should answer your three questions and more: click here.
CTN asked why the discrepancy in awards given? No one has responded.
According to the demographics, the two areas are similar. In the Palisades, 69 percent own versus renting and recipients without homeowner/renter insurance was 24 percent. In Altadena, 71 percent owned and 23 were without homeowner/renter insurance.
Under demographics it’s pointed out that according to gender Altadena has 60 percent female head of household and race shows 44 percent white, 20 percent black and 14 percent declined to answer.
In the Palisades, 53 percent of households are woman, 66 percent are white and 17 percent decline to answer.
If one goes to the FireAid Latham and Watkins progress report to the section on early reporting from Grantees on Progress to Date, regarding household relief grants https://www.fireaidla.org/assets/press-releases/pdfs/fireaid_progress_report.pdf you learn that “Over $30.3M in grants approved for 3,335 households—61% from Altadena, which included more vulnerable populations. Awards ranged from $6K–$18K for unmet fire-related needs.”
Okay, so Altadena is more vulnerable, but what about the Palisades? Fires are color blind.
How did the County receive FireAid money? Through a nonprofit Southern California Grantmakersclick here. CTN reached out to the County and asked if this nonprofit, which also received money for LA Region Small Business Relief Fund ($3 million); LA Region Worker Relief Fund ($3,5 million) LA County Arts & Creative Recovery Fund ($1 million) and LA County Household Relief Fund ($2.5 million), was donated in entirety to the county. No one has responded. If they do the story will be updated.
The relief grants given out totalled $31 million, where did the remaining $28.5 million came from? The Center by Lendistry click here.
Their website notes that “Small businesses in underserved communities face barriers to success, from limited access to capital to a lack of tailored support. The Center by Lendistry is a nonprofit organization committed to closing that gap.” Lendistry was the sole entity designated as the Intermediary of the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program (the “Program”).
On the Household Relief Grants, it is made clear that the Center for Strategic Economic Studies and Institutional Development manages the grant program on behalf of the LA County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs.
According to that letter the resident received, “Please know this decision is final, and there is no appeals process.”
It appears that the reason that the Tahitian Terrace resident didn’t receive the grant is because they lived in Pacific Palisades.