Page 15 - AAGLA-JUNE 2022

Executive Director’s Message
Continued from page 12
While I am certain the city’s rental housing providers wholeheartedly support the Los Angeles Police Department and value the service it provides to ensure the safety of our communities, as do I, now is not the time for the city to be asking for our charity. Rental property owners already cannot afford the stranglehold of the city’s overbearing regulations, and because of that, many will have much greater difficulty subsidizing rental units for the police department than their desire to help those in the police department serving in and protecting our communities.
When I heard about all of this police subsidized housing stuff, I wondered if the city would offer any dispensation for members of the force if problems should occur. What if the person being subsidized does not join the police department or leaves its employ? Are we then stuck with a below market renters that we cannot evict under the City’s regulations? What if there are other issues such as a lease violation? Will the city step in to help deal with the problems their officer or officer candidate may be causing? I think we know the answers here.
I think that the City of Los Angeles should find room in its bloated budget to properly compensate its police officers and to recruit only the top-qualified candidates. Encouraging police officers live within the communities that they serve is an excellent endeavor and would only have a positive outcome for the residents of the city, but the question remains, who should bear the cost of housing or what subsidies or assistance the city can offer to rental property owners as a show of good faith and encouragement?
So Ironic, and Yet so Sad at the Same Time
Again, I am going to say it again (yes, I did mean to say “again” twice in one sentence – get over it), it is so sad that the City of Los Angeles, which is constantly imposing one-sided and punitive regulations against rental housing providers, and the “irony upon ironies” is that the city now seeks the help of the very people it has been forcing out of business through its moratoriums on evictions and rent increases, its complicated and costly tenant protection regulations, its increased trash and inspection fees, and
now its proposals to strip away an owner’s right to properly screen tenants. We see this all the time, city upon city, and county upon county.
So many housing providers, particularly small business “mom and pop” owners, have suffered and continue suffering from the ill-conceived regulations imposed by the City of Los Angeles (among other state and localities) in the face of the pandemic or otherwise. Given the experience of the last 2-plus years, owners have not yet recovered and are still facing the impacts of challenged rent collections and no rent increases while inflation sits at 8.1% (or more) today with no end in sight. Because of the actions of the City of Los Angeles, owners have been left holding the “bag” in terms of thousands of dollars of rental debts, and in some cases millions of dollars.
No Eat Cake...Let Them Advocate
Why does it feel as if we are constantly “hit over the head” in regulations? From my viewpoint, one of our biggest challenges has been getting landlords to become advocates. Most expect our “little but vocal” organization to take care of everything, but it is so important and far more effective when those that live in the community impacted show up to speak at council meetings rather than a lobbying group like our Association. When you do go to a public meeting, you will likely find as I have that many vocal tenants show up to these meetings, far more than property owners, and they are there to loudly voice their support for rent regulations. Often, these local renters are accompanied by “pretend renters” that do nt actually live in the community who are mostly volunteers or paid professionals that live far outside of the cities they advocate in but literally have a goal of “rent control in every pot.”
It is important that owners like you (and me) encourage other rental property owners to voice opposition to all types of regulations and to affiliate with an apartment association to stay informed and so you can speak a common language in opposition to regulations that harm our investments. So, when you see an email coming your way that says “Red Alert,” your response should not be to press the delete button – make your response one of read and react.
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