The Los Angeles City Council moved forward on Wednesday with a plan to buy a 124-unit apartment building in Chinatown, instructing the city’s financial analysts to find the nearly $46 million they say would be needed to carry out the purchase.
The council voted 14 to 0 to start the process of acquiring Hillside Villa, where major rent increases have fueled fears that tenants could be pushed out once the coronavirus is under control and restrictions on evictions are lifted — or possibly sooner than that.
Councilman Gil Cedillo, whose district includes Chinatown, unveiled a plan in November to tap surplus federal COVID-19 relief funds for the purchase, saying the move would protect renters while also allowing the owner to “make out like a bandit.” But budget analysts quickly concluded the purchase would not be eligible for those funds, since Cedillo proposed the idea before L.A.’s coronavirus health emergency began.
At least six households inside Hillside Villa have received notices from the landlord informing them they have three days to provide rent that went unpaid in the months leading up to the COVID-19 outbreak, or else face eviction, according to Jacob Woocher, an organizer with the L.A. Tenants Union. Four of the six say they do not, in fact, owe that money, and have refused to comply, Woocher said.
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