February 2019 Issue

24 FEBRUARY 2019 • WWW.AAGLA.ORG Local Advocacy Update Los Angeles County – Source of Income (aka Mandatory Section 8) The County of Los Angeles voted on January 15, 2019 to create a Source of Income ordinance for the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. The ordinance would require that all rental housing providers accept Section 8 renters and thereby force owners into the Section 8 program. If an owner rejects a renter based on Section 8, then the owner would be subject to claims of discrimination and penalties. The County staff will now draft a detailed ordinance that will be brought back to the Board of Supervisors for a final vote in 120 days. AAGLA will continue to oppose the Source of Income ordinance until the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles (HACOLA) makes substantial improvements to the Section 8 program, so that owners can effectively utilize it. The program itself needs to be fixed before more people are forced into it. City of Los Angeles RecycLA: The Budget Committee for the City of Los Angeles will be hearing a proposed settlement between the City and the private haulers regarding additional fees (including distance, access, overweight, etc.) in January. It is unknown what is in the settlement as it remains private until presented to the committee for review. However, our Association has met with City Councilmembers regarding (1) reducing base fees for rent stabilized buildings with a majority of long-term renters as either a rebate program or lower tiered fee structure administered by the haulers and (2) creating a bright line rule at LASAN, so that all quadplexes and triplexes are approved to use LASAN’s services rather than the haulers. We have requested that these issues be part of the settlement review and discussion as all issues with the haulers should be considered at the same time. Increased base rates resulting from the RecycLA program are particularly difficult for owners of building that are under the Rent Stabilization Ordinance as they are unable to pass through the increases to renters. In particular, owners with many long-term renters are significantly financially burdened as they are unable to raise their rents to market rate for existing renters under the Rent Stabilization Ordinance. As the haulers have significantly financially benefitted under the RecycLA program, including receiving many more customers than were originally anticipated, we believe they should be responsible for providing financial relief to owners under the Rent Stabilization Ordinance that are financially struggling by either providing a rebate program or lower tiered fee structure for base fees. In addition, the City’s Los Angeles Sanitation Department (LASAN) has admitted to using “discretion” in rejecting owners of triplexes or quadplexes that have requested returning to using LASAN as their hauler instead of the private haulers under RecycLA. As acknowledged by LASAN’s General Manager at November’s hearing, the RecycLA program has always been intended only for buildings with 5 or more units. Therefore, we believe it is inappropriate and legally questionable for LASAN’s staff to be rejecting any requests from owners of triplexes or quadplexes to use LASAN’s service. AAGLA has requested that LASAN cease such “discretion” and has requested that City Councilmembers require a bright line be implemented by LASAN for accepting all requests from owners with 4 or fewer units. Source of Income (a/k/a, Mandatory Section 8): The Housing Committee for the City of Los Angeles will be meeting on January 23 to vote on whether to adopt a Source of Income ordinance that would require all rental housing providers to accept Section 8 renters and thereby be forced into the Section 8 program. If an owner rejects LOCAL GOVERNMENT UPDATE By Janet Gagnon, Director, Government Affairs and External Relations