After freezing its controversial housing program for years, the City of Industry is now actively renting the heavily discounted residences again, but city officials have refused to disclose who was selected from a recent pool that included a current city councilmember and eight other applicants.
Records show Councilmember Michael Greubel applied to rent a 1,681-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bathroom house from the Industry Housing and Property Management Authority for just $1,175 per month. By comparison, the average renter in the San Gabriel Valley pays about $1,857 for an apartment that is roughly half that size, according to RentCafe.
Though Industry would not officially identify the six selected tenants, handwritten notes obtained through a public records request suggested Greubel made the cut. The notes, taken during an ad-hoc meeting of the two-member selection committee, listed the nine families that applied, with three of the names crossed out.
Greubel’s name was among the six that were not crossed out by the note taker. The city appears to have addresses written next to the six family names, but that information was redacted in the notes.
The address that Greubel applied for was considered a “priority,” according to the notes.
The city had six vacant houses available for rent at the time, with the properties ranging from $900 per month for 1,184 square feet to $1,740 for 2,487 square feet. The rents are the equivalent of 70 cents per square foot, an amount based on Industry’s annual maintenance costs for the properties.
Industry spent nearly $800,000 on housing expenses in 2021-22 and only made back about $175,000 from rent, records showed. The new tenants are expected to increase rental revenues by about $88,000 per year, according to a staff report.
Greubel did not return a call for comment. City officials cited privacy laws when declining to the provide the names of the newly selected tenants or copies of their leases.
How tenants were…
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