Good Guys Finish First…Sometimes
By Carol
Fondiller
Fourteen million Americans
of low and middle income are spending more than half their income on housing,
and nowhere in any state in the Union does a full-time job on minimum wage
enable most families to pay fair market rent for a two-bedroom
apartment.
The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously
to close down—temporarily—a loophole that enabled landlords to evict
long-term tenants from their apartments under the guise of
rehabilitation.
“It was like a
scene out of the movies,” said Larry Gross, Executive Director of the
Coalition for Economic Survival. “We didn’t think we had a chance of
getting the moratorium through on the first
hearing.”
Under the city’s
current rent control law, building owners can have tenants removed if owners
spend $10,000 or more on an apartment and require the apartment to be vacant for
45 days.
Los Angeles, where over half
of the residents are renters, is experiencing a major shortage of affordable
rental stock. Housing advocates allege that landlords are abusing the
city’s law by using overpriced repairs for improvements as an excuse to
remove tenants and raise rents. “They’re making repairs on perfectly
good affordable housing” said Larry Gross. “In most cases the
repairs are not needed.”
Allen
Abshey, an attorney for Lincoln Place Apartments in Venice claimed that the
moratorium is a response to a long-running dispute over what happens to the
795-unit complex.
Owners wanted to
demolish the housing units, many of which were inhabited by tenants who lived in
these units for more than 20 years. The city has so far prohibited them from
doing so.
Last year the L.A. Housing
Department received 111 landlord declarations of intent to evict for purposes of
major rehabilitation. This is more than 12 times the number received in
1992.
According to Elena Popp of the
Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, many tenants lose their apartments because
of landlord intimidation and their ignorance of tenants’
rights.
When the moratorium was
discussed, it was pointed out that the city had failed to enforce certain
provisions of the ordinance. For example, when an owner evicts tenants for the
purpose of rehabilitation, the owner must offer 25 percent of the renovated
units to previous tenants at the previous rent. When an owner has stated the
intent to evict for rehabilitation, the city issues re-rental certificates to
insure rental to previous tenants. But between the years 2000-2002 the city
received 22 re-rental applications and only processed six. The head of the
Housing Department said this was due to understaffing and an increased
workload.
At the meeting to discuss
the moratorium, tenant groups overflowed the city hall chambers. Charles Ishun
of the Greater Los Angeles Apartment Association put his association’s
spin on the matter when he essentially said that for the city council to adopt a
program that says we don’t want buildings to be upgraded is foolish. Larry
Gross of the Coalition for Economic Survival put things back in perspective.
This is not about making repairs to substandard or slum housing. It is about
landlords and developing and gentrifying affordable housing and getting higher
rents.
During the discussion,
Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski of the 11th District said she knew of nonprofits
that did major rehabilitation without evicting tenants. Sheila Bernard,
President of the Lincoln Place Tenant Association had been to several hearings
regarding the moratorium. “We felt in order to protect our tenancy, we
needed to have this
moratorium.”
The moratorium is
for only six months. During the six months a committee will be set up to oversee
a major rehab of the major rehab ordinance. One plan would be to totally
eliminate evictions by temporarily relocating tenants to comparable housing in
the area while rehab is in progress and allowing tenants to move back into units
at the existing rent. Another initiative would amend the $10,000 minimum for
rehabilitation and exclude cosmetic repairs. This limit has not been revisited
since 1994.
Our new city councilwoman,
Cindy Miscikowski of our new council district was very receptive to the idea of
the moratorium. Call her and voice your support for more protection of tenants!
Posted: Thu - August 1, 2002 at 05:55 PM