Affordable Housing Activists in Overdrive

Byline: Rebecca Rona-Tuttle

Update – May 7: Affordable housing champions Liberty Hill supports, such as POWER, LA Voice and ACCE, many concerned citizens and others–such as me personally–were eagerly looking forward to today's City Council vote on the proposed rent hike moratorium. (See two previous posts.)  In fact "eagerly" puts it too mildly, since many believed with all their being that landlords increasing rent, when tenants with low incomes are already struggling desperately, would be highly detrimental. (I do feel for certain landlords who are having a difficult time earning a profit, but I believe that low-income tenants are struggling much more.)

As it turned out–thank goodness–the proposed moratorium passed on a procedural vote today, with the Los Angeles City Council agreeing on an 8-6 vote to consider an ordinance that would freeze rents through October 31.

However, after some last-minute changes, the ordinance to be voted on will only apply to buildings with six or more units, rather than applying to all of the city's rent-controlled apartments. Read more about this in the Los Angeles Times,

There are widely divergent views among councilmembers. For one, Councilman Richard Alarcon will attempt to roll back some of the changes when the moratorium comes to a vote in two weeks.

Read on to learn one organizer's experience yesterday, prior to the vote; background on the ordinance, and information on how you can make your voice heard. This struggle is not over, and you can play an important role…

Tomorrow morning's City Council vote on the proposed moratorium on rent increases in Los Angeles is getting lots of people all stirred up. (See the previous blog post below.)

I just heard from a very excited Bill Przylucki of People Organized for Westside Renewal (POWER), who's working hard, organizing people around the hoped-for moratorium. And this is what he wrote:

"The momentum is building big-time.  We've generated over 300 calls to Rosendahl's office in 24 hours!  (Plus hundreds more over the past few weeks).  We're on track to have 300 people at City Hall tomorrow to fill the chambers and do public comment for as long as necessary ("the people's filibuster"). This is definitely a showdown between greed and democracy…Nary an organizer will sleep well tonight in LA, but we're all very hopeful.  The signs are good…"

Let's keep our fingers crossed. Read the LA Times article here.

What do you think of the proposed moratorium? Are you contacting a city councilmember or heading to City Hall in the morning? We'd love to read your comments. Just click the comments button below.

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Friday’s Vote on Rent Increase Moratorium

Byline: Rebecca Rona-Tuttle

If you live anywhere in Los Angeles, you can assist hundreds of thousands of low-income people who live in rent-controlled apartments to avoid rent increases. Contact your city councilmember! The need is urgent!

“We need immediate action to protect tenants from unfair rent increases!” Chris Gabriele, executive director of People Organized for Westside Renewal (POWER), told Liberty Hill.  “The LA City Council will vote this Friday, May 7.” So far, only three city councilmen are on record as supporting a proposed moratorium on rent increases: Herb Wesson, Richard Alarcon and Ed Reyes.

Affordable housing activists are asking LA residents to do any or all of the following:  phone or e-mail their own city councilmember, contact more than one city councilmember, regardless of district, and attend the city council meeting Friday at 10 a.m., LA City Hall, 200 N. Spring St., LA CA 90012, 3rd Floor. “Show your support of affordable housing!” Gabriele urged.

Click here for a list of city councilmembers and their contact information.

The council’s Housing, Community and Economic Development Committee voted Wednesday 3-1 in favor of a moratorium that would bar owners from raising the rents on 630,000 units of rent-controlled housing. Otherwise, rents will increase July 1, some by as much as five percent.

That’s 630,000 apartments, and conceivably more than a million low-income individuals who are struggling mightily during our economic downturn and need their remaining dollars for food and medicine here in L.A., the nation’s housing UN-affordability capital.

Councilman Herb Wesson favors the moratorium in part because it would give the city council time to consider various proposals, such as one to tie any future rent increases to the inflation rate. Meanwhile, the fight between rent control advocates and landlords is heating up. Read details in today’s LA Times.

Two of the organizations broadcasting an urgent call for action are POWER and Coalition for Economic Survival (CES), each supported for many years by Liberty Hill.

Seniors surviving on Social Security payments, single moms who have lost their jobs and folks who simply don’t earn much will be grateful for your support.

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Should Rent Control Hikes Be Frozen for One Year?

At the Nate Holden Center last night 500 people showed up to advocate for a freeze on rent control hikes. Councilman Wesson said he's never seen so many people pack the Nate Holden Center. 

Several Liberty Hill grantees have been working to stop rent increases in the city of LA and succeeded in getting Councilmember Alarcon to introduce a motion to that effect. The City Council’s Housing Committee held a community meeting to discuss our grantees’ recommendations for recognizing housing as a human right. The policy would potentially affect more than 600,000 L.A. renters. 

Read L.A. Times blog coverage of the event.

Read L.A. Community Action Networks' blog post. 

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