Some of you may be old enough to remember the famous, Stealers Wheel song, “Stuck in the Middle with You,” which was released sometime around 1972. One of the more relevant verses to the situation for housing providers goes like this:

[Verse 2]

Yes, I’m stuck in the middle with you

And I’m wondering what it is I should do

It’s so hard to keep this smile from my face

Losing control, yeah, I’m all over the place

 

Sometimes, I feel as though the Los Angeles City Council is like a circus in search of its “Big Top.” I often wonder about the City’s priorities. in the face of massive financial and budgetary challenges, growing crime rates, and wildfire recovery, the City Council recently decided it would be best to prioritize yet another attack on the City’s property owners.

In July, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously as an emergency ordinance to move forward with what will effectively eliminate the ability of a property owner to substantially remodel their property even though it is not subject to the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance (Non-RSO). Now, any costly substantial remodel project will no longer be a valid reason for removing a tenant under what is known as a “no-fault” eviction even if the work is needed for upgrades related to life / safety issues or government mandates. Non-RSO property owners will be “stuck with the bill” and will now have to relocate their tenants while the work is completed, paying to rent temporary space.

To be clear, “Non-RSO” properties include rental properties constructed after 1978, single-family houses and condominiums that are tenant occupied, and accessor dwelling units that are being rented out. These protections from substantial remodel evictions are even available to tenants who are renting mansions in Brentwood or Bel Air! Oh, that’s so very wrong! The progressives on the City Council have unknowingly imposed protections for the rich people they very often despise. These City Council members, absent a few who “get it” and have a business sense (e.g., Lee, Park, and Rodriguez) and sometimes others…occasionally.

So, what exactly is the emergency? Keep in mind, there’s hundreds of thousands of Non-RSO rental housing units within the City of Los Angeles, and perhaps millions. Yet, there were fewer than 100 of Non-RSO units (77 properties and just 99 total units, and only 5 were multifamily properties) that had applied for “No-Fault” evictions for substantial remodels during the two-and-a-half-year period prior to the ordinance’s passage. So, in other words, the City Council and its minions from the tenant rights unions merely created a “Renoviction Hoax” to impose this latest restriction on property owners. And, keep in mind, this is not coming on the heels of the Pacific Palisades and Alta Dena wildfires – property owners and renters who lost their homes in the fires badly need housing, but this latest ordinance only discourages property owners from placing their houses, condominiums and accessory dwelling units on the rental market. Who needs that sort of headache!

During the City Council’s deliberations, Councilmember Blumenfield and others refused to acknowledge that they made a mistake in believing the radical tenant activists who concocted the alleged “Renoviction HOAX” despite the clear evidence provided to the contrary by the City’s own Los Angeles Housing Department.  Once again, the City Council is joining the radicals in another witch hunt against private property owners that will increase the financial burden on property owners merely trying to provide the City with badly needed housing, and at the same time, reducing the quality of available housing by making major needed upgrades more costly and discourage owners of single-family and condominium properties from placing their homes on the rental market in the first place, even after the massive displacement following the wildfires.

Our organization is completely opposed to any proposal that restricts any property owners’ ability to make necessary upgrades at their property for safety and esthetic reasons or even to, G-d forbid, increase a property’s value. This ban on substantial remodeling will further result in the disrepair of and decline to the city’s already aging housing stock by placing an unnecessary and costly new burden on housing providers requiring them to relocate tenants no matter the extent nor timeframe of necessary repairs and upgrades. The city’s renters will, as a result, be forced to live in squalor while owners will delay or just no longer be capable of making major upgrades at their properties.

We must ask ourselves, when will the Los Angeles City Council wake-up and realize that forcing more costs onto the backs of rental housing providers only harms everyone – property owners, renters, and the City! It is beyond abhorrent that Councilmember Blumenfield (who was the author of this ban on substantial remodeling motion) and the others on the City Council refused to follow the facts provided by their own City department and merely chose to willfully and uncaringly ignore the harm that will be caused to responsible rental housing providers who will want to move their rental housing investments elsewhere or possibly leave the business of rental housing entirely.

We must make changes! We need to elect City Council members who are sympathetic to the needs of rental housing providers and who understand what it means to be a small business owner in the City of Los Angeles. Councilmembers Blumenfield and Curren-Price are termed out in 2026, and we must fill these two open seats with business-friendly candidates. To do so, that requires YOU to support us by contributing to AAGLA’s Candidate Political Action Committee (PAC) TODAY. We must also back candidates that challenge Democratic Socialist of America members, which include Eunisses Hernandez and Hugo Soto-Martinez who are both running for re-election in 2026. We urge you to make a generous contribution at https://aagla.org/candidatespac/ Help us restore balance and sanity to the L.A. City Council!

Are You Ready for Change? Support the AAGLA PAC

Are you as tired as we are about these seemingly constant attacks against our livelihoods and property rights? We can change our current situation. Help us to elect candidates for public office that seek balance in regulations and who are sympathetic to the needs of the state’s rental housing providers. Please support the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles’ Political Action Committee. Make your check payable to “AAGLA PAC” or contribute online as follows:

Mail Your Check Payable to “AAGLA PAC” to:

AAGLA PAC

c/o Reed & Davidson

Attn. Cary Davidson, Esq., Treasurer

515 South Figueroa Street, Suite 1110

Los Angeles, California 90071-3301

Contribute Online:

www.AAGLA.org/CandidatesPAC

Written by Daniel Yukelson

Daniel Yukelson is currently the Executive Director of The Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles (AAGLA). As a Certified Public Accountant, Yukelson began his career at Ernst & Young, the global accounting firm, and has since served in senior financial roles principally as Chief Financial Officer for various public, private and start-up companies. Prior to joining AAGLA, Yukelson served for 15 years as Chief Financial Officer for Premiere Radio Networks, now a subsidiary of I-Heart Media, and for more than 3 years as Chief Financial Officer of Oasis West Realty, the owner of the Beverly Hilton and Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills where he was involved with the development and construction of the Waldorf. Yukelson was formerly Chairperson of the City of Beverly Hills Planning Commission and served on both Beverly Hills’ Planning Commission for 6 years and Public Works Commission for 3 years.