The Los Angeles City Council is proposing to “close a loophole” in a rent-control ordinance, a move aimed at protecting current tenants and the city’s low-income housing interests.
Under the ordinance, new complexes built on property that was previously rent-controlled will continue to be rent-controlled.
Sarah Dusseault, senior policy adviser to City Council President Eric Garcetti, said the ordinance is not an extension of the existing law but rather “the closing of a loophole.”
Dusseault said the ordinance applies to owners of housing complexes who get out of the rental market, evict their current tenants and then use the opportunity to rebuild on their original land to avoid rent control.
“The issue is the (landowner) bought it at a depressed value. … They’re turning around and rebuilding solely to get out of rent control,” she said.
Veronica Perez Becker, vice president of legislative affairs for Central City Association, said she and the association are opposed to the ordinance because it would discourage new construction and take away the incentives of investing in L.A. housing.
“We have a housing crisis and we need more units ““ more affordable units, more market units. … (This ordinance) would discourage the construction we need,” she said.
She said she and a coalition of business associations are working on creative solutions that will work to find better options to increase housing.
“We feel that the city should work on incentivizing building affordable housing ““ now it’s by restrictions and not incentives,” she said.
Becker said the private and public sectors should be working together to create solutions for affordable housing.
“There are too many piecemeal policies that don’t comprehensively address the underlying problem,” she said.
The council offered three additional options for complex owners who wish to avoid rent control: allotting 20 percent of their complex to low-income housing, paying a fee to get out of the requirement or donating land to the city.
The last two options are measures Andrew Westall, senior deputy to City Councilman Herb Wesson Jr., said would create low-income housing opportunities, as both the fee and the land would go to the city to be used for this purpose.
He said people are likely to pursue the last option “because they can get tax write-offs for donation.”
Westall said the council has allotted a 90-day “hardship exemption” for owners.
The council is currently debating whether to exempt smaller, two to four-unit complexes from the ordinance, Westall said.
As far as the effect the ordinance would have on an area like Westwood, Westall said it would most likely result in less development on existing properties.
“When people demolish buildings to create new ones, you get condominiums,” he said.
He said this means the buildings available for students will get older over time and be harder to come by.
But Dusseault said she believes the ordinance would be good for students because it would provide tenant protection and affordable housing options.
“It would be good for students, especially graduate students or people working for the university who would qualify (for low-income housing),” she said.
Kellen Shipley, a third-year art history student, said he believes apartment buildings should be rent-controlled, but is not sure it would affect students.
“Rent control is contingent on someone staying in the same place for a certain amount of time,” he said. “It won’t affect students per se, but (rather) people living in places surrounding UCLA.”
Becker said the ordinance would not be helpful in places like Westwood that have a high rate of turnover as a result of the student tenants in the area.
“In a situation with high turnover, that’s where rent control doesn’t make any sense,” she said.