By Eliza Ridgeway

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors allocated $140,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds to Los Altos last week, based on the percentage of the city’s population living in poverty.

Most of the money, $80,459, will go to the Housing Rehabilitation Loan program, which provides low-interest loans to local low-income homeowners to make health- and safety-related repairs. The program aims to help the elderly and people on fixed incomes stay in their homes even in the face of expensive home repairs.

The $38,611 for community groups will support organizations such as the Community Services Agency, the Los Altos Mediation Program and the Support Network for Battered Women. The city augments the federal funds with general fund money.

The city has also set aside $15,000 to offset administrative costs, and $5,000 for the county’s administration of the city’s Housing Rehabilitation Loan program.

Block grant money can be used to improve employment, education, housing, nutrition, emergency services and health. Los Altos typically uses block grant money to support community service programs, offset city administrative costs and finance capital improvements.

The Bush administration’s proposed budget for 2007 would cut block grant funding by approximately 25 percent.