Rent increase plan dropped for Los Angeles city-owned senior building

Los Angeles' housing agency has scrapped a proposal for a 6 percent rent hike at a city-owned, senior apartment building in Eagle Rock.

Following a city hearing last week which drew angry seniors, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles announced Tuesday that rents will rise 3 percent this year instead of 6 percent at Reflections on Yosemite, a 1970s-era building on Yosemite Drive.

Citing "concerns expressed by our residents," HACLA announced rents will rise just 3 percent, in line with allowable increases under the city's rent control law.

Resident Alex Ortega, who pays $754 for a one-bedroom at Reflections, believes pressure from the news media covering the hike caused HACLA to back down. Additionally, HACLA "found out that we had lawyers and a tenants' union on our side," he said.

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Ortega, 70, and other residents protested the 6 percent hike, contending the building's elderly, disabled and others on fixed-incomes couldn't afford the increase. Some residents said a 3 percent hike, which had been applied in the past, was preferable.

HACLA executive Tina Booth-Smith said last week that the building doesn't receive government subsidies and the higher increase was needed to keep up with area rents. The building is considered a "market rate" complex, despite the low rents.

Meanwhile, the two sides continued on Tuesday to disagree on whether the HACLA-owned building is covered under rent control law.

HACLA maintains the building isn't subject to the law, a position also held by the Housing and Community Investment Department, another city agency.

However, Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County attorney David Pallack, who represents the tenants, sent a letter to HACLA last week stating that while HACLA properties are generally exempt from the rent control law, the exception doesn't apply to unsubsidized housing.

The city's rent control law caps annual rent increases and provides other protections for renters.

Reached Tuesday, Pallack said in an email he'd continue to discuss the rent control issue with HACLA. He also said he was pleased about the smaller rent increase.

"Large rent increases can cause serious hardships on low-income tenants," Pallack wrote, "especially elderly individuals living on fixed incomes like those living at the Reflections at Yosemite Apartments."

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