Inglewood residents have taken to social media in protest of annual home registration fees that are being assessed to property owners and landlords through the Housing Protection Department (HPD) in accordance with provisions under the Housing Protection Ordinance. Residents are upset that regardless of whether they have a tenant, they are required to pay registration fees to subsidize the new department.
According to the city’s website, “if your property type is exempt according to the Inglewood Municipal Code (IMC) Ordinance 21-09, YOU MUST STILL REGISTER your property and/or units and claim the exemption(s) with the HPD”.
“If you are a homeowner and you rent out your home, you are only required to register, and as long as you do so before the deadline, you will not have to pay fees,” said Yakema Decatur, director of HPD. “Single family homes that are rented out are exempt from housing protection laws, but all residential properties are required to register annually.”
The City will waive registration fees completed between January 7, 2022 and March 31, 2022, will be waived.
The city will issue a business tax certificate for the registration fees, which must be produced to any revenue inspector and/or code enforcement officer, requesting verification.
The city will begin enforcement May 1, 2022, against any Property Owner and Landlord who fails to register a residential property/unit pursuant to Inglewood Municipal Code Section 8-126.
The City was pressured into enacting rent control as a means to stop rent gauging that residents complained were occurring as a result of gentrification fueled by new developments.
Discussions began in 2019, with an emergency rent ordinance that became permanent Oct. 2020.
The ordinance provided certain actions the city could would take to recoup administration costs, including assessing fees, and creating a housing board, which residents complained had not been done.
An Inglewood property owner attended the Sept. 21, 2021, regular city council meeting to challenge information provided to him from HPD, regarding evictions, but also inquired why the city wasn’t following their own ordinance when it came to establishing a rent board.
“You don’t have a board setup that was supposed to be done last Oct. and how do you make an ordinance, setup a board and not do it,” said Greg Essery.
He repeatedly asked the mayor when he was going to setup the board, Butts deflected to calling the resident “frustrated”, and never offered an answer.
During the FY 2021-2022 budget presentation, another resident submitted public comment regarding the appearance of the City consolidating the Housing Protection Department with the Inglewood Housing Authority (IHA).
“It appears that the affordable housing dept is consolidating with housing protection,” wrote Marvin McCoy. “Since the budget proposes consolidating both departments will the housing protection operating administrative costs such as salary and operations to the affordable housing program’s budget?”
The belief is if the departments are in fact consolidated, wouldn’t administrative costs be absorbed with federal dollars?
In 2016, the Inglewood Housing Authority was made to pay back $797,000 for unauthorized personnel costs.
According to the Office of Inspector General’s audit of IHA, “…we recommend that the Director of HUD’s Los Angeles Office of Public Housing require the Authority to (1) provide supporting documentation or reimburse its program $796,186 from non-Federal funds for unsupported allocated overhead and personnel costs charged.”
When the department was created, the initial funding came from the City’s reserves, and the staff report identified registration fees as a way to recoup these costs.
Now residents are up in arms with the fact they have to pay an additional annual “fee” that is nothing more than a thinly veiled tax.
“I am retired property owner on a fixed income and I knew that if rent control was implemented it would be disastrous,” said Pearson Lynell. “My taxes have already increased by more than $400 per year, which may not seem like a lot, but it is if you’re on a fixed income.”
Some blamed the mayor directly.
“Mayor Butts you’re not watching out for the very people who voted for such a capitalist as yourself,” said Kimberly McKay.
Others say the city isn’t safe so why the continued increase of cost to live here?
“They want to create all these fees and squeeze money out of people for what,” asked Ana Brown. “For my car to be stolen? My house to be broken into? City of Champions, huh?”
As residents prepare for 2022 elections, where Mayor Butts, and Council members George Dotson and Alex Padilla are on the ballot, when exactly do the spoils from the NFL, Forum reopening, and the coming Clippers Arena actually kick in?
We are paying to park in front of our homes, stuck in increased traffic congestion, are facing multiple lawsuits related to the mayor’s reckless behavior, an officer allegedly mowing down a pedestrian, and unforeseen potential litigation related to the police department being allegedly connected to drug trafficking, makes for more money going out of 1 Manchester Blvd. than is coming in.
To add insult to injury, a crucial tax ballot measure failed, when residents rejected an increased, tiered tax system on real estate transfers.
Residents have a LOT to think about.
5 Comments
The dictatorship will continue to add/raise taxes with no accountability of how the money is being spent unless we (residents) organize and do the work to get a new Mayor and two new city Council persons a year from now. It will be hard with Ballmer and Kroenke money backing the dictatorship but if we come together (HOA, Block Clubs, etc.) it can be done. Complaining does not lead to results.
Count on us to help you organize and get the message out. Invite us to your block clubs.
Why is there no trolley line to SOFI from the Green Line or the new train on Florence Avenue? Why didn’t the usual progressive activists demand such or why have they still not? Why is it anytime democrats control any entity it always evolves into bankruptcy, bloated pensions and cozy corruption?
Ohhhh, and it only gets worse if you do have a property that you do rent out. Once you register, in come the government inspectors, followed by inspection failures, followed by by permits, followed by plans that an engineer/architect must prepare, followed by contractors, etc etc etc
As he keeps telling us The only thing that has changed in Inglewood since BUTTS became Mayor is EVERYTHING!!
Foolish spending is this administrations calling card
Mayors and council members through out the South Bay understand they are responsible for keeping expenses under control to meet the needs of residents. They do not charge the community for maintaining their assorted “girlfriends” on exorbitant city payroll schedules . Nor do they expect residents to provide them high-end vehicles?
Rather than the residents being at the top of the organizational chart James Butts has placed himself RULER OF ALL and installed his team through the campaign aid of those they have voted significant favors to…all at the expense and detriment of residents !
Residents have been denied the opportunity of public participation by James Butts’ unilateral decision to move meetings to afternoons when residents can not attend and by further limiting speaking time.
James Butts and his merry band of puppets have in fact changed everything residents of other city’s still have the joys of holding dear:
Zoning decisions to protect residents rather to benefit high rise developers interest.
The RIGHT TO HAVE GUESTS VISIT OUR HOMES FOR MORE THN 2 HOURS WITHOUT CITY HALL OVERSIGHT/ PERMISSION.
The right to park our cars anywhere near our homes without having to pay extra if we have children with driver’s licenses and cars.
This community needs to consider how much they have given up so that James Butts could place himself on the Throne and play God. Ministers who claim to represent God and helped Butts ascend to that throne should have reminded him that GOD is not the man he sees in the mirror. (Not even he he provided the minister with the $18 million forgiven loan.)
It is long past time RESIDENTS START VOTING IN OUR BEST INTEREST rather than buying into the glossy hype paid for by developers and billionaires who think they have the right to “zone us out of our homes” and destroy our quality of life even more.
Let us tell this council we have had enough of the pitting neighbors against neighbors by their attempts to divide us by District, by property ownership status, by ageism and yes by race with their derogatory characterizations of community members who speak out.
The creation of the “housing protection” department was nothing more than a ruse to get more money from every home owner many of whom are seniors that invested hard earned dollars to have the American Dream when minorities had a hard time getting home loans.
The promise of limiting rent increases has multiple flaws and as presented is not realistic when the cost of property ownership continues to rise if renters are able to vote in school bonds, pension bonds, transportation bonds and the assorted other bonds raising the property taxes sometimes to double the base tax.
Let us together say enough of our paying outrages assorted fees for ridiculous executive salary and benefit packages and serving the want lists of developers and billionaires.
Creating a bogus excuse for a fee does not legitimize it being levied .