CITYWIDE A Santa Monica-based home rental search agency is throwing in their name among the businesses and organizations lending a helping hand to the wildfire relief effort.
Westside Rentals is offering assistance in covering the rental deposits for victims displaced by the wildfires that ravaged much of the Southland last week, including Malibu. The largest home rental business in Southern California is also waiving membership fees for fire victims seeking a place to live. The home-finder business charges $60 for a 60-day membership.
Mark Verge, the owner of Westside Rentals, has pledged to spend up to $100,000 to cover the rental and security deposits for the wildfire victims.
The fires in Malibu, Orange and San Diego counties have burned more than 517,000 acres and destroyed more than 2,900 structures. At least 3,800 structures are still threatened, according to the governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
Verge, who lives in the Palisades, saw the fire from his home last week.
“It must be a tragedy to lose (everything),” Verge said on Tuesday. “It’s all replaceable stuff, but it’s the place where all the kids grew up... losing pictures is such a tragedy.”
About five people have expressed interest in the offer, Verge said.
The offer is good for all tenants seeking residency in the apartment buildings listed on Westside Rentals, whose database includes vacancies in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties.
Some of those prospective tenants will be looking at Matthew Cooper’s apartments in Orange County. Cooper, who owns several buildings in Orange County and on the Westside, said he plans to waive the security deposit, which includes the first and last month’s rent, for the displaced victims of the wildfire.
Cooper lists his vacant units on Westside Rentals.
“It’s a tragedy what happened with those people losing their homes,” Cooper said.
Westside Rentals also offered its data-base of more than 17,000 rental listings to the U.S. Department of Housing and Development. A representative with HUD’s Los Angeles field office did not return a request for comment on Tuesday.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 1, 2007. Read the original PDF.