FEMA TO HELP BUY MUDSLIDE-DAMAGED HOMES.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Wednesday that it will provide a $3.2 million grant to help buy 14 area homes damaged by El Nino mudslides, including five slammed into by a collapsed hillside in West Hills.

The money will cover 75 percent of the cost of buying the properties, razing the houses, leaving them undeveloped or turning them into parks. The city and county of Los Angeles will pick up the remaining 25 percent of the cost, officials said.

It is the first time FEMA has made such a buyout offer to mudslide victims though its Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which in recent years has been used to relocate people living on flood plains in the Midwest.

``It's clear that these are hillsides that should not have been built on and if we're going to deal with disasters in advance the best thing we can do is buy out these homeowners,'' said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Woodland Hills, who lobbied federal officials for the grant.

Under a program administered in California by the governor's Office of Emergency Services, the $3.2 million FEMA grant will be added to other federal and local funds to provide a total of $4.3 million to buy the 14 properties in West Hills, Malibu, Topanga, Northridge and Studio City.

Homeowners have not been told the exact amount they will be offered, but the grant makes an average of $309,000 available to each of them, with the actual amount varying in terms of square footage and other factors, Sherman said.

Residents affected by the mudslides largely welcomed the grant since they do not have insurance to cover the damage, and would find rebuilding expensive and legally problematic. But many questions remain, they said.

Carole Julian said that her decision on taking the buyout ``depends on what the bottom line is.'' She and her husband, Frank, continue to live in their damaged West Hills home, which they believe is effectively worthless because it has been ``yellow-tagged'' by building inspectors due to the danger posed by another slide. Parts of yellow-tagged properties are off-limits to occupants.

Four of their neighbors were forced out of their homes after the Feb. 13 mudslide. ``We need to know (if the city) is going to pay the 25 percent and how much they've appraised the house at. We're in the dark right now,'' Julian said.

Minnie Rodrigues, 74, said she and her husband, Floyd, would like to find a new home - on flat land - but are not sure if the grant money will cover the cost if the city makes them pay to tear down the house and shore up the hillside.

Lou and Reata Vaughn, also affected by the West Hills mudslide, were relieved to learn that federal and local officials want to take their crippled home off their hands. ``I see this as a godsend - it just takes the pressure off,'' Lou Vaughn said.