SURVEY TO SET HOUSING NEEDS NONPROFIT GROUP BEGINS DOOR-TO-DOOR EFFORT TO COLLECT DATA FROM RESIDENTS.

Byline: Rachel Uranga Staff Writer

A local community improvement group launched a door-to-door survey Thursday, gathering information from residents living in crowded dwellings in an effort to help City Hall build suitable low-income housing in the area.

The nonprofit group Pacoima Beautiful will spend four months asking residents of this mostly Latino community of 98,000 to respond to the 40-question survey developed by urban development students at California State University, Northridge.

``If we are going to bring in new housing, we need to know what is the appropriate housing,'' said Marlene Grossman, executive director of Pacoima Beautiful. ``Right now, there is no opinion about what should be done in Pacoima.''

Over the past two years, the city has collected $100 million from various sources for an affordable-housing trust fund with a goal of building 8,700 housing units annually throughout Los Angeles.

The survey is designed to determine how difficult it is for low-income residents to rent apartments and buy homes, whether they know how to contact their landlord and how many school-age children live in a household.

``(The survey) will be critical in assessing the special needs of Pacoima. There is census data for the area, but there is nothing to date with this level of detail,'' said David Gershwin, spokesman for Councilman Alex Padilla, who represents the area.

Bruce Ackerman, president of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando, said it was universally acknowledged that the Pacoima area needs more housing. But Ackerman said that in the past, housing funds have been spent on unsuccessful projects like the San Fernando Gardens, a sprawling public housing project that has a reputation for violence.

``There's not a lot of money available for housing, so we have to spend it in the best way possible,'' he said.

For example, building high-density apartments could backfire without sufficient jobs nearby, Ackerman said.

On average, Pacoima has a dwelling density rate of 4.7 people per household, compared with the San Fernando Valley's average of 2.7. And while income levels certainly play a big factor in those figures, little attention has been paid to the cultural and personal reasons that contribute to housing conditions.

``We are not making any assumptions,'' said Grossman of Pacoima Beautiful. ``People may like living three or four families in a house. It may be culturally appropriate. We have to figure out what is going to meet the needs of the residents.''

For Manuel Sandoval, 59, who lives in a converted garage in Pacoima with his wife, three children, a son-in-law and his granddaughter, their large household is merely a matter of economics.

``There are so many apartments, but it's all so expensive,'' said Sandoval who pays $650 a month to rent his garage space.

Rachel Uranga, [phone]

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Manuel Sandoval, center, shown with two of his sons, lives with four other family members in a converted garage behind them.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer