Pico Union Heights Neighborhood Association

Hi,
I work in the 10th district and live in the 13th. I'm concerned about the City Council's recent fee increase regarding tenant relocations that they passed April 11. As I understand it, this new ordinance was meant primarily for large developers doing condo conversions who are kicking out large numbers of renters to demolish their buildings.

While I support protecting the Council's decision to protect these renters from the large companies forcing mass relocations, this law also applies to mom-and-pop property owners who need to relocate a tenant to live in their own property.

The Council nearly tripled the fee, making it cost as much as $17,000 to relocate one unit. This may be possible for a large corporation, but it is nearly impossible for a single property owner to afford.

My fear is that this will negatively impact other tenants. Property owners who live in their own building are far more likely to take care of it and make needed improvements. Nearly tripling the cost of relocation fees for owner occupancy will not only deter owners from living there, but it will suck money away from building improvements.

I hope that neighborhood councils will look at this new ordinance and see that it will have a deleterious effect of building upkeep in our communities. I'm hoping that we can ask the City Council to remove the line about owner-occupancy relocations (called ''good faith'' relocations) and keep the law applicable only to large-scale development, which was it's intended purpose to begin with.

I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this issue.

By David K.

Dear David,

I am in agreement with you on this issue.  I am not a renter and am no longer a rental housing provider because of the egregious attack on property rights by the disreputable City Council.  I have heard that the only ones who DON't pay this outrageous "fee" are the very corporate interests to which you referred.

If you are a renter and are looking at whom or what to blame for the high rents, look no further than the criminals who sit on the City Council.  They INTENTIONALLY destroyed existing affordable housing so that they could claim a 'crisis" and the only way to cure the "crisis" is the enormous amount of CORPORATE WELFARE they've diverted to their corporate cronies.

Eric Garcetti, for example, gave away hundreds of millions of dollars to Legacy Partners to build "affordable housing" at the corner of Hollywood and Vine after they threw 35 businesses OUT of business.  The "affordable housing" cost $1.4 million PER UNIT.  This is rampant. 

Carol K