INGLEWOOD – As Inglewood continues to scramble for loose change in the couch cushions, residents are steadily making their way back to the Main Library’s lecture hall to participate in the weekly city council meetings. This week the City’s enforcement of rental housing registration fees reopened old wounds pertaining to the Housing Protection Department (HPD) and the City’s continued violation of Ordinance 21-09.
The City amended the Municipal Code to include Section 2-152.88 which creates a Rental Housing Board consisting of five members who are all appointed by the Mayor. The City has begun enforcement of the program without the requisite board that was supposed to be seated as of Oct. 1.
Emails to Mayor Butts have not been responded to as to why the City is forcing residents to be in compliance without the mandated board being in place.
Over the weekend, property owners with rental units began receiving notices in the mail demanding they register their units , and if they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to collect rent and would receive monthly fines of $500 after July 1 until they did. Where is the rent board?
Several residents likened the exorbitant fee as an undercover tax and submitted inquiries to the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association questioning if it is in fact a tax.
“Why, for one, do some units pay double? How is rent control in buildings with 5 or more units twice as costly to administer?” said HJTA Staff Attorney Laura Dougherty. “If there is no basis for this doubling, that is a violation of the last paragraph of Proposition 26. And why is rent control administration that much more expensive than code enforcement?”
Last September, the City appeared to have consolidated HPD with the Inglewood Housing Authority which further complicates dissecting of the costs to run the department or to determine if the positions the City claims to need the fees to cover personnel or also being billed against federal grant dollars (HUD).
A gentleman comes to the council meetings regularly to demand an explanation as to the status of the rent board (video 1), and for the City to prove they are not exceeding administration costs with the fees they are charging (video).
The public will not know the full cost of the housing protection department until September of this year when the 2022-2023 budget is presented.
The housing protection program was never about registering the properties, it was always about generating revenue. Staff already existed to process the registrations and if they are now under the housing authority, what happened to the five extra personnel added to process the rent relief applications? Why aren’t they processing the registration applications considering HPD is now under the housing authority? The City appears to be billing HUD and residents for the same duties.
These programs (housing protection and permit parking) aren’t well thought out, and because they lack public input they become a nightmare for residents.
Another example of the City not benefitting from the NFL coming to town.
This could be headed to a courtroom near you. Stay tuned.
**editors note Video 1 discusses funding to renovate the Inglewood Main Library**
1 Comment
Here is another thing that will have to be reversed after we vote for thinking independent persons to fill the council seats in November.
This Housing Protection Plan was as well thought through as the “city-wide” oh wait only some areas of the city- parking foolishness.-Both are money grabbing info gathering intrusions into our lives! Each of us should be able to have guests to our homes without requesting permission from city hall for our friends/family to park near our homes for that dinner or afternoon time with family! Or friends! . As for the “digital tire chalking” it certainly appears to be yet another unseen surveillance tactic of the police state mentality.
There is no reason to have all units to be registered any differently than they have always been. This is nothing more than an intrusion into everyones life to generate money only from rental unit owners to actually add dollars to pay for exorbitant salaries for special employees and lawyers fees.
The first clue should have been was who the players were that were supposedly “ looking out for tenants”…many were the same who clamored for 2 pm meetings and even orchestrated the one time shuttle of several incoherent seniors from a convalescent home for camera sake and presented a fake petition (cut and paste of the convalescent home guest sign in sheet ) to move all meetings to a time inconvenient for working residents.
Now seriously senior widows with one unit are told by someone who lied about his residency to run for mayor, (claiming he and his wife were living in the back home of his wife’s parents property) , that his appointees will sit in judgement of their rental units.
This man has lied from day one. How much more will we let him destroy the fabric of our community – as for telling long term renters they need not pay – is this his underhanded way of driving homeowners into bankruptcy? How is it there is regulations with long term tenants, but no concern about regulations for short term aka party weekend rentals? Is this a planned incentive for the conversion of long term rentals to we to weekend only air B&B short term rentals to make room for more Stadium fans?
Thank God voters saw through his property transfer tax which was to be Higher than even Silicon Valley..!
Look at what his man’s time in office has done— the “world’s largest stadium “ received so many tax breaks it is homeowners that are paying more not only with inconvenience on event days but with higher tax rates and limited police protection.
He has set in place the “Playa Vista – ing” ( high rent/ high rise apartment building) of Crenshaw and Imperial and everything east of Oak Street- all while doing his best to destroy any evidence of the once thriving Market Street.
Isn’t it time to take back our community from the elected put in place by the millionaires for the benefit of these outside interest.?
Tell your neighbors to pay attention not to glossy election mailers but what decisions are made each week at city hall including how your money is spent!