Residents Speak Out On Pending Eviction from City Owned Property

Yesterday 2UrbanGirls revealed that 4949 Century Blvd is co-owned by J and J Cohen Properties LLC and the City of Inglewood. The property is managed by former owners Warren Properties. Despite the City of Inglewood issuing an emergency rent stabilization 45 day moratorium, on just cause evictions, on Tuesday, March 5th, residents of the referenced properties received 60 day notices on March 15th.

Resident Charlotte Lamphere has provided this author with a trove of emails sent to Councilman Eloy Morales and his assistant Jaime Gutierrez on March 18, 2019, three days after the notice was received. Gutierrez didn’t respond back to her until Wednesday, April 3rd.

By then, Gutierrez copied Inglewood Housing Authority (IHA) Melanie McDade on his email where he referred her to the Housing Rights Center. Gutierrez also requested they send a copy of the moratorium to the owners, which 2UrbanGirls has identified as J and J Cohen Properties LLC and the city of Inglewood.

The residents were told by IHA that they WERE covered under the moratorium. So basically, they are getting the run around and Councilman Morales NEVER responded.

She also referenced in her emails that she spoke with City Attorney Ken Campos and he stated the eviction notice was outside of the 45 day moratorium because they received a 60 day notice.

Many of the residents have lived at the property for a minimum of a decade. The residents sent emails requesting a waive of the rent so they would be able to save money to move and were denied.

Some Facebook commenters publicly pondered whether the city, as co-owners, had any say in the matter of the eviction notices being issued. It appears the city is partners to help assist with speedy issuance of permits and stands to gain financially with the conversion of the apartment to a hotel.

Some argue the property isn’t “big enough” to house a hotel, but there are 24 units. Residents also argued the owner violated the law where any property with over a certain amount of units are required to have an on-site manager. Instead the janitor is the person assigned to address issues to.

Rent was $900 per month equaling income of $21k per month for the 24 units. Now, those same fully, and soon to be refurbished furnished units can rent for upwards of $200 per DAY. Owners would now see potentially $6,000 per month, from ONE unit and approx. $144,000 for all 24 units per MONTH!

This translates to $6k per unit, per month which would now yield $145k per MONTH in income. How does the city benefit? Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) is currently 14% and property value would increase as well.

The City of Los Angeles was forced to create an ordinance to address the very likelihood of apartment owners kicking out their tenants and turning their apartment complexes into unregulated hotels.

The city of Long Beach just approved charging TOT taxes for short-term rentals as well.

2UrbanGirls anticipates hearing about a short-term rental ordinance, in the city of Inglewood, in the near future as AirBnb has recently become a member of the Inglewood Airport Area Chamber of Commerce.

The residents of 4821/4949 Century Blvd. have enlisted the assistance of Royce Esters, of the civil rights group NAEJA, who have offices in the city of Compton. NAEJA, along with Uplift Inglewood, plan to hold a rally and press conference at 4821 Century Blvd, Saturday, April 6th at 12noon.