UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing Visits Los Angeles

Amid a global economic recession precipitated by the U.S. sub-prime lending crisis, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing recently conducted the office’s first official mission in the U.S. to investigate the foreclosure crisis, growing homelessness, and concerns around low-income housing with respect to public housing and rental assistance.

Raquel Rolnik, The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, was recently given a very thorough tour of Los Angeles and outlying areas. The two-day affair included 1) a housing briefing at the newly opened Legal Aid Foundation Office on South Broadway Blvd which covered issues facing public housing residents, foreclosures, slum housing, homelessness and criminalization; 2) a bus tour that made it possible for the rapporteur to fully witness and absorb the realities faced by marginally housed and homeless residents of Los Angeles; and, 3) a town hall meeting designed to utilize creative story-telling methods alongside personal testimony to further breathe life into the millions of untold stories of housing hardships.

Special Rapporteur Raquel Rolnik will present the findings of her mission to the UN General Assembly in a public report on the human right to housing in the U.S.  She also released a press statement [please read earlier post] that in part had this to say about the United States housing crisis:

“The number of homeless continues to rise with increasing numbers of working families and individuals finding themselves on the streets,” highlighted the UN expert after visiting Washington DC , New York , Chicago , New Orleans , Los Angeles , Pacoima and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. “The economic crisis has exacerbated this situation.”

While LA CAN was selected nationally to serve as the City Chair to host this historic visit nothing could have been accomplished without the work of the following organizations:

•     Beyond Shelter, Inc.

•     Coalition for Economic Survival

•     Coalition LA

•     Comunidad Presente

•     Esperanza Community Housing

•     Housing Long Beach

•     Indigenous Support Black Mesa AZ communities

•     Korean Immigrant Worker Alliance (KIWA)

•     LA Neighborhood Housing Services

•     Lamp Community

•     Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA)

•     Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger & Homelessness

•     Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN)

Los Angeles Neighborhood Housing Services

•     Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County

•     People Organized for Westside Renewal (POWER)

•     Skid Row Housing Trust

•     South Asian Network

•     St. John’s Well Child and Family Center

•     Union de Vecinos

http://bit.ly/12sNxX Check out photos of the briefing held at Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles

Also, financial support for the LA planning committee and visit was provided by The California Endowment and Liberty Hill Foundation. Without this support it would have been impossible to bring great work and great organizations together.

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$1 million settlement from Alexandria Hotel owners, City and CRA to current and former tenants

 

Low-income tenants at the century-old Alexandria Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, who were subjected to unlawful displacement, shutoffs of heat, water and elevator service, have negotiated a broad-sweeping case settlement in their lawsuit filed in December, 2007.  This victory comes after more than three years of tenant organizing to protect their homes, including dozens of LA CAN members.  The settlement sets numerous new policies and also provides compensation to the 10 most harmed tenants as well as more than 100 tenants who were wrongfully displaced. 

 

The case of the Alexandria Hotel is much more than the classic “landlord preys on weak and vulnerable tenants” narrative. Those cases are usually characterized by slumlords, in isolation, failing to provide basic services and habitable environments for tenants who are usually poor. In the case of the Alexandria Hotel, the City of Los Angeles and the Community Redevelopment Agency were aware of the problems almost immediately after Amerland Group took control of the property.  Tenants consistently raised their voices to City officials and City Councilmembers about the violations of their housing and human rights, yet the City and CRA failed to remedy those situations.  But a strong group of organized low-income tenants would not give up, we continued to stand up to the political and developer interests in creating a “new downtown” and, finally, have achieved victory.

 

The publicly-funded project at the Alexandria, as originally approved by the CRA, was intended to revitalize the property for the benefit of current tenants.  However, it became clear pretty quickly that “improving” the property involved more than new paint and kitchenettes—it also meant getting rid of the original tenants, mostly African American, extremely poor people. In response, tenants made numerous visits to Councilmember Huizar and his staff, testified publicly at the CRA Commission (because it was the local funding agency) and City Council, contacted the Mayor’s Office on multiple occasions, collected evidence to support their claims, and educated and organized dozens of tenants to fight against the mass displacement.

 

Instead of help from City officials, tenants and organizers were routinely ignored, targeted and/or slandered by both the developer and city officials.  For example:

Þ    There were emails between the developer and City officials accusing tenants and LA CAN staff of lying, drug dealing, and other things to discredit the testimony of poor people

Þ    After the problems at the Alexandria were well-documented and shared, letters of support from local and state elected officials, including the Mayor and Councilmember Perry, were provided for a second project by the developer

Þ    High ranking LAPD officers attended extended CRA board meetings to provide public support for the developer to off-set complaints made by tenants

Þ    Multiple LAPD officers attended eviction court to testify against current tenants, although there were no convictions to report

 

Again, tenants did not give up in the face of adversity.  LA CAN members continued to document the problems and worked with our legal partners at LAFLA to put together an amazing legal team to support the efforts of tenants.  This settlement provides some long-deserved justification and compensation for tenants who stood up for their rights, faced eviction, endured humiliation and name calling by Councilmember Cardenas and others, but finally won their David and Goliath story.  It also includes policy changes at the Alexandria and the CRA that will prevent similar situations from occurring in the future.  LA CAN is proud of all of our members who participated in this fight, especially those who lived at the Alexandria. 

 

Links to some media coverage:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29167925/

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-alexandria13-2009feb13,0,336902.story

press release

Images of Casa de Vallejo

This story is rapidly advancing as a September 5, 2008 deadline looms for former tenants. On that date housing assistance, currently provided by Amerland, will cease and tenants will be rendered homeless. Stay tuned.