News: Los Angeles Times
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The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the city of Los Angeles to prohibit all rent increases in rent controlled units, approve a far-reaching eviction moratorium, and grant tenants one year to cover unpaid rent.
These actions go well beyond a statewide eviction moratorium ordered last week by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Mayor Eric Garcetti’ ordered his prohibition on rent increases Monday night, affecting roughly 624,000 rent controlled units. Prior to his order, the annual cap on rent increases for these units sat at 4%, a figure based on the rate of inflation.
The California Apartment Association agrees that landlords should not be… Read More
Tagged: News Los Angeles
A Los Angeles city councilman wants to use eminent domain to prevent rents in a Chinatown building from returning to market rates after a 30-year wait.
A motion by Councilman Gil Cedillo asks staff to return in 30 days with recommendations for acquiring Hillside Villa, where rents on 59 affordable units are scheduled to adjust to market rates in September.
Tagged: Affordable housing Los Angeles
Proposition 10, the statewide ballot measure that would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, was trailing by a growing margin in a poll released this week by the Public Policy Institute of California.
The PPIC poll shows that 60 percent of likely voters would vote no on Prop 10, while 25 percent would vote yes, and 15 percent are undecided.
If Costa-Hawkins is overturned in the November election, California cities and counties will once again gain the authority to adopt extreme forms of rent control, including the imposition of rent caps on new apartments and single-family homes. Such moves would… Read More
Rent increases limited to 10 percent while protections in effect
With wildfires continuing to spread in Southern California, Gov. Jerry Brown has declared states of emergency in San Diego and Santa Barbara counties. The declarations on Thursday come just days after the fires prompted Brown to declare emergencies in the counties of Los Angeles and Ventura.
The governor’s declarations once again trigger the state’s anti-price gouging law. When activated, Penal Code Section 396 prohibits raising the price of many consumer goods and services, including that of rental housing, by more than 10 percent after the emergency has been declared.
The… Read More
Los Angeles’ new waste-hauling system, which applies to much of the city’s multifamily housing, has generated complaints of dramatically higher prices and spotty service, the Los Angeles Times reported this week.
Tagged: News Los Angeles
A proposal to apply “just cause” eviction policies to non-rent-controlled housing in Los Angeles got a boost this week from the City Council.
At present, just-cause eviction requirements apply only to the city’s rent-controlled housing. But under a proposal gaining traction in L.A., just-cause would apply to the city’s entire housing stock, regardless of whether rents are regulated.
Tagged: Just Cause Eviction Los Angeles
Amid a sharp rise in Los Angeles County’s homeless population, the California Apartment Association this week reaffirmed its commitment to helping people secure permanent housing.
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority reported that the number of homeless individuals in the county increased to 58,000. That represents a 23 percent spike in the annual survey.
Earthquakes are not selective about where and when they strike, and they are equally as indiscriminate on the types of buildings they can rattle to the ground. While it is true that some structures may be more prone to damage than others, the reality is that virtually all buildings have the capacity to fail in a major quake.
Recognizing that, many cities throughout the state are kicking off new laws requiring retrofits of various types of buildings – a phenomenon the Los Angeles Times recently proclaimed as the start of a “new frontier” for earthquake safety.
Tagged: Seismic Retrofitting
Revisiting a priority from 2016, Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget proposal takes on California’s housing shortage with a plan to curtail local hurdles to residential development.
“What we can do is cut the red tape, cut the delays, cut whatever expenses we can afford to do to make housing more affordable,” Brown said, according to the Sacramento Business Journal.
As in past years, Brown took a cautious approach to the state’s fiscal blueprint, which comes to $177.1 billion, citing concerns that a future economic downturn would sap state tax revenue.
Tagged: Budgets
The Los Angeles City Council this week endorsed a plan to have property owners and tenants split the costs of earthquake retrofitting.
On Wednesday, the council tentatively approved the proposal on a unanimous vote. The arrangement calls on owners and tenants to share costs of retrofitting equally, which the city attorney’s office will now spell out in an ordinance subject to public comment and approval by the council.
The city this past fall put rules in place to seismically retrofit thousands of buildings throughout the city.
“This is a deal that’s been a year in the making. And it’s the… Read More
Tagged: Earthquakes Los Angeles