Tenants at the Amberwood Terrace apartment complex in South Pasadena, a city filled with renters and high living costs, have agreed with the management to lower rents and provide move-out-money after they discovered their rent was increasing by nearly $600 by Dec. 1.
Since then, an ad hoc committee from the city council has formed and has facilitated an agreement between Amberwood South Pasadena Property Ownership LLC and tenants, which has dropped the rent increase to $200 until June and allowed those who plan to move out a buyout from $1,000 to $2,500. It hasn’t been an easy battle for tenants and may force the city of South Pasadena to consider rent control.
At a city council meeting earlier in November, which helped spark the current buyout agreement, tenant Samantha Doorman led a protest of about 30 people with the hopes of convincing the council to impose a moratorium on rent. The protest drew emotional responses from the tenants who have lived in the apartment complex for many years. Both children and adults held up signs that read “housing is a human right,” “we need rent control” and “alquilar el control ahora,” which means “rent control now.”
Hernan and Kathleen Herrera are afraid they won’t able to physically support their three children if they are struggling to find a place to live. They are especially concerned they will not be there their daughter who is a staff sergeant at the Marine Corps, graduating college and getting married.
“It’s almost like South Pasadena has said you’ve done all this but you’re not valued enough so we’re going to toss you aside like trash,” Kathleen Herrera said. “We’re by no means rich where we can afford to pay a 25, 26, 32 hundred dollars a month for rat boxes but we still have to raise our children and grandchildren.”
That number may be an exaggeration, but rent is still high. According to the Department of Numbers, the median US rent is $934 dollars, adjusted for inflation. In South Pasadena, the median rent is $1,000 to over $1,500, almost a third more than the rest of the United States.
Once inside the council chamber, tenants gave testimony to urge the city council to impose a moratorium on rent increases. Samantha Doorman who led the fight, was the tenth person to speak, and her frustration was audible as this has been her third visit to the council.
“We just don’t know why you are not doing it [passing rent control],” Doorman said. “We want to know why you are not protecting us from displacement and homelessness.”
South Pasadena is a city of renters. The rental occupancy rate in the majority South Pasadena is from 22 to 57 percent or more according to Policy Map. South Pasadena’s city council will keep that in mind when they decide on the future of rent control.
Members of the city council stressed the complexity of the issue including councilwoman Marina Khubersian, quite forcefully. She regrettably joined the two-person ad hoc committee with Vice Mayor Michael A. Cacciotti to find a mutual solution.
“This particular council is incredibly dedicated to complex issues and deals with them very effectively with very little resources,” Khubersian said in response one resident’s accusation that complexity was a way to stall. “So the creation of the ad hoc committee is not an escape route for us it actually commits us to quite a bit of work.”
Leon Khachooni, a representative from the Foothill Apartment Association, had a chance to speak on behalf of landlords. He said most of these rental agencies are small businesses. Older apartments like Amberwood are in constant need of maintenance, so they need to charge whatever they can get.
Mahmud said there are multiple sides to the issue, sticking with Khubersian’s argument of complexity. According to Mahmud, increased property taxes for landlords as a result of proposition 13, the fact that the apartment complex has been under market rates for a long time and years of ill maintenance have forced apartment manager Jerry Wise to impose skyrocketing rent.
“The issue of whether or not to consider inaction of a rent control or a rent stabilization ordinance is very, very complex,” Mahmud said. She wants the ad hoc committee to look at ordinances passed in Northern California and determine, “whether or not most rent control ordinances are imposed is based on submitting to the electorate or if it is something the city council on its own decides,” before any action is taken.
Furthermore, Mahmud said that rent control cannot be applied to one or two properties on their own, which makes it difficult for any action for tenants at Amberwood. The city of Oakland imposed a 90-day moratorium on rent increases for the whole city earlier in 2016. In May, the city of Santa Rosa imposed a moratorium on rent for 45 days. So imposing rent control isn’t impossible but it may take longer than many tenants in South Pasadena want.
It was a small victory for tenants in South Pasadena to negotiate a lower rent increase; yet some residents have already moved out in search of a cheaper place to live.
Hawken Miller 