New Tactic Against Slums: Taking the Rent Money Away

Attacking what Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky called “the mother’s milk of slumlordism, the rent check,” a new Los Angeles ordinance allows the city to take rent money away from landlords who refuse to make repairs.

Passed last November at the urging of Yaroslavsky and Councilwoman Gloria Molina, the ordinance gives the City Council the right to place either certain apartments or whole buildings into a “rent escrow account program.” It is similar to laws already enacted in New York and Detroit.

Tenants then pay their monthly rents into a special bank account maintained by the city, rather than to their landlords. Landlords get the money only after they make repairs, minus a $50-per-apartment fee to the city.

So far, the city’s Community Development Department, which administers the program, is considering three buildings as candidates for the rent escrow program--at 521 S. Union Drive, 5426 Virginia Ave. and 1040 Westlake Ave.