Victory Alert: We Won! Pomona STOPS New Increased Relocation Fees
Victory Alert
We Won! Pomona STOPS New Increased Relocation Fees
By Janet M. Gagnon
Chief Corporate Affairs Officer & SVP Government Relations
On February 2nd, the Pomona City Council rejected the proposal by the City’s Neighborhood Services Department to further increase relocation fees based on an extremely flawed cost report from its consultant, RSG. Instead, the City will form a stakeholders committee to meet during the summer to discuss the matter that will include rental housing providers, AAGLA, renters and tenant activist groups. AAGLA will notify our members once the stakeholders committee is formed and we urge rental housing providers to actively participate in these upcoming meetings.
AAGLA strongly opposed the new relocation fees providing a formal written letter (see attached) as well as in-person testimony at multiple City Council meetings. AAGLA also sent out a Red Alert to members the prior week, but no rental housing providers attended the City Council meeting. Thus, AAGLA was the sole voice opposing these horrendously inflated relocation fees.
RSG had no explanation why it failed to use CoStar data for actual rent rates in Pomona and instead inappropriately used HUD’s Fair Market Rent (FMR) for Los Angeles County. The use of FMR resulted in the overstatement of rents by more than DOUBLE. Yet RSG admitted that it had used CoStar data in other reports for other cities.
RSG also admitted to failing to use Baldwin Park, Claremont and Long Beach in its analysis of “peer jurisdictions”, which contained 12 other cities many of which were located in Northern California. Of the 11 cities in RSG’s report, 7 had median incomes greater than $100,000 per year.
RSG’s report also artificially inflated moving costs by including security deposits (that are refunded upon vacancy), temporary housing and storage (neither of which should be necessary based on advanced notice to renters already required by state law).
Tenant activist groups continue to push the City Council to make permanent and/or increase relocation fees that are already 37% higher than what should be the case for Pomona as they were originally created based upon rents across all of Los Angeles County (including Beverly Hills, Malibu, and Bel Air). We urge rental housing owners to get engaged with the City Council on this issue in order to achieve relocation fees that reflect true rental rates and moving cost in Pomona.
This article is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions regarding your property or specific leasing issues and the requirements of any legal changes described herein, please consult with an attorney.