Council Votes Skid Row Hotel Rent Freeze : Homeless Slowly Trickle Into City’s Emergency ‘Urban Campground’

As the homeless trickled into Los Angeles’ emergency “urban campground,” the City Council on Tuesday approved a new rent control plan for residency hotels that is intended to keep more people in housing and off the streets.

Acting on an 11-0 vote with four members absent, the council gave preliminary approval to a six-month rent freeze on downtown hotels that provide night-by-night shelter for the poor. The council also called for a six-month moratorium on the issuance of demolition permits for the so-called “single room occupancy” (SRO) hotels.

The measures, which could become effective within 10 days if they receive Mayor Tom Bradley’ approval, will allow time for the city to develop more permanent rent regulations for the hotels. Barbara Zeidman, director of the city’s rent stabilization program, described the purpose of the ordinance as “homelessness prevention.” There was no vocal opposition from hotel owners at the council meeting.

The council’s decision came on the second day of operation at the much-publicized “urban campground” on South Santa Fe Avenue. The campground, established as a means of relocating homeless people from their cardboard-box shantytowns on the sidewalks and alleys of the Skid Row area, has not yet attracted anything close to the 600 that are expected. By late Tuesday night, slightly more than 100 had checked in to the camp.

Forty-four men were bused to the campground Tuesday from the Russ and Panama hotels on Skid Row. Those hotels are operated by the SRO Housing Corp., a city-sponsored nonprofit agency that renovates and operates hotels on Skid Row. After closing an emergency shelter in Little Tokyo on May 1, the city had provided funds to lodge the men in the hotels. However, those funds have run out.

Homeless activist Ted Hayes and two other members of his group, Justiceville, were arrested Tuesday night by Los Angles police when they refused to submit to a weapons search by Salvation Army personnel.

Critical of Camp

Hayes, who had been critical of the campground, objecting to the dust, the toilet facilities, the lack of first aid facilities and the “Salvation Army posture,’ said earlier that the city had agreed to let the homeless themselves search those entering the camp. This was an important point, Hayes said, because “we are human beings like everyone else.”

Deputy Mayor Michael Gage confirmed that the homeless could do the searches “under the supervision of the other security.”

Salvation Army officials said Tuesday night, however, that the city had not notified them of any change in procedure. Police Sgt. D. W. Graham said Hayes will be charged with trespassing and causing a disturbance. One of the other men, David Norrington, will be charged with trespassing, and the third man, Michael Neeley with trespassing, creating a disturbance and resisting arrest, he said.

Gage also said that a first aid station will be set up on the campground, and that city officials are “looking into” complaints about the toilets and dust. Meanwhile, public works officials said an unnamed sponsor has been found to pay for 103 individual tents, which some homeless had said would be preferable to the open-air canopies now on the site.

Latest Proposal

The rent control ordinance for single-room-occupancy hotels is the latest in a sheaf of proposals approved by the City Council in a effort to shelter the homeless. Last week the council approved a plan to open specified city buildings as emergency shelter in cold or rainy weather. The rent control ordinance, Zeidman said, could serve to protect both poor persons who are in danger of becoming homeless and those who move back and forth from such hotels to the street and missions.

Zeidman said she had heard “not one word” of opposition from affected hotel owners, and her efforts to notify them of the council meeting were unsuccessful. The hotels’ ownership, she said, is “diffuse,” generally divided between long-term owners and real estate speculators. “They don’t have a coalition,” she said.

Zeidman said the hotels, which typically feature shared bathroom facilities and nightly rents of about $8, often become revolving doors of homelessness between the hotel rooms and the streets. There are about 10,000 such hotel rooms in the city, including more than 6,750 in the downtown area.

“You have a captive market to a large extent,” Zeidman explained in an interview. “This is the only housing resource at this low of a price.” Without transportation, “the population is frozen in place,” she said.

People on Fixed Incomes

Under current city laws, Zeidman said, rent control becomes effective for persons who have established occupancy for 60 continuous days in such hotels. But the single-room-occupancy hotels typically serve people on fixed incomes who cannot afford the “move-in money,” such as the first and last month’s rent, and thus are not protected by rent control, Zeidman said.

These persons often work at low-paying jobs and receive general relief, Zeidman said. “Many are elderly, many are disabled. “

When they run out of money, she added, they end up on the streets or in the missions--until they raise enough to move back into the hotels.

Under the plan, rents would be frozen at levels of last Feb. 23. Rent increases would be permitted in those hotels that have existing rent regulatory agreements with a government agency, as long as rents do not go above the maximum general relief allowance, presently $240 per month.

The council’s action also seeks to block the destruction of the aging hotels, which are typically in violation of both fire and earthquake safety codes.