LA Elected Representatives Are Implementing Policies That Are Designed to Push Property Owners into

Why an Expanded Housing Voucher Program Could Be Beneficial

AAGLA Member, Susan Collins, Shares Her Thoughts on the Current COVID-19 Housing Situation:

The Los Angeles City Council is advocating for and implementing policies that prevent property owners from collecting rents needed to pay mortgages and taxes. On a State level, bills such as Assembly Bill 828 are currently being considered which will impose a blanket 25% reduction on rents. Many residents have lost much more that 25% of their income so this plan will not provide the level of assistance needed and only shifts the financial burden from one demographic to another.

Councilman Mike Bonin recently made an extremely concerning statement during a virtual town hall – I am sure you’ve heard, or read it but just to be sure, here is the quote:

“I intend on putting in another proposal in the next week or two that asks the city to look at the federal bailout or stimulus funds we’ll be getting as a result of this crisis, and use some of that to either buy hotels that go belly up or to buy the distressed properties that are absolutely going to be on the market at cheaper prices after this crisis is over, and use that as homeless and affordable housing. It’s going to be a hell of a lot cheaper to purchase stuff that is already there and move people in there than if we start from scratch.”

A statement like this by Mike Bonin indicates a clear conflict of interest between our local and state government and property and business owners. Our elected representatives are using the current crisis to implement policies that are designed to push property owners into foreclosure, with the intention of purchasing the properties in a time of distress, caused by the policies they drafted and implemented.

I would like to advocate for the use of an expanded housing voucher program. During this time of crisis renters should be eligible for rental subsidies when they are able to provide verification of a loss of income that is substantial enough to cause a hardship and is due to the crisis caused by COVID-19.

Funding to keep people in their homes and prevent an increase in homelessness prevention is already available but is being spent ineffectively. Last year it was determined that the Los Angeles Homeless Services Association (“LAHSA”) was ineffective and lacked direction. LAHSA’s 2019 annual budget is estimated at $400 Million. During this crisis, LAHSA is executing a hazard pay increase clause in their contract that provides them with a 50% pay increase, with all overtime paid at the additional 50% based on the higher amount.

If we can pay an admittedly ineffective organization, with no definitive benchmarks for success, close to $600 Million, there is no reason to require property owners to absorb such a lion’s share of the financial burden of this crisis. Those funds need to be re-directed to an emergency rental voucher program. This will keep people in their homes, out of poverty and allow property owners to continue to reinvest in other areas of our community’s economic recovery and growth.

I know that the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles recently sent a letter to the Los Angeles and Beverly Hills City Councils, among others, in which you requested that they “require renters to pay all past due rent prior to vacating a unit and to allow housing providers to offset security deposits against any deferred, past due rent obligation.” I would like to also request, if there is any amount of deferred rent that is not collectable after the 12 months post-emergency, and if funds available in the security deposit are less than the total of repair of damages and deferred rent, the remaining total of deferred rent, shall be withheld from the total of property or business taxes due. (Not just file a return based on the reduced income, but to be reimbursed by the governing body that forcefully and unjustly reduced our income.)

Thank you AAGLA for fighting for us and for all the hard work you do.