Council Approves 5-Year Ban on Demolition of Skid Row Hotels

In a move that advocates for the homeless hailed as a major boost for the city’s destitute, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a tough new five-year ban on the demolition of single-room-occupancy hotels on Skid Row.

The moratorium, which Mayor Tom Bradley has said he will sign into law, allows such hotels in the downtown area to be torn down only if the owner constructs an equivalent number of equally affordable replacement units.

“This is a big moment in this town,” said a beaming Alice Callaghan, founder of the Skid Row Housing Trust, after the council vote. “Eight thousand people living in (single-room-occupancy hotels) or on the street will now have protection for five years.

“This will do more to stem the rise of homelessness than anything the city has done so far,” added Callaghan, director of the Skid Row-based Las Familias del Pueblo social service agency.

The council also agreed in its 12-0 vote to establish a moratorium of up to three years on the demolition of such hotels elsewhere in the city. This less-restrictive measure includes a similar room-for-room replacement housing provision. But it also allows a second exemption under which hotel owners can demolish their buildings if they opt to pay the city a $25,000-per-unit fee for the construction of replacement housing.

The new moratoriums replace shorter interim measures in effect since mid-1987. At that time, Bradley proposed a one-year demolition ban as a stopgap to preserve the city’s dwindling low-income housing stock, particularly in Skid Row.

With increased commercial and industrial business in the downtown area, many single-room-occupancy hotel owners had begun to demolish their buildings, adding significantly to the problem of homelessness in the city’s neighborhood of last resort. Bradley, in a letter to council members Tuesday, urged approval of the extended ban, terming such hotels “the oldest and one of the most valuable housing resources for our low-income tenants in the city.”

While officials say the hotels serve a valuable function, they are hardly viewed as a housing stock of choice. Some of the 75 downtown hotels are clean and quiet. But many others are infested with rodents, roaches and drug dealers.

Typical rooms, occupied by one or two people, are 10 feet by 12 to 14 feet, with a sink and bathing and toilet facilities down the hall. Owners of the rooms, which usually rent for between $200 and $300 a month, do not require security deposits or the last month’s rent up front. Most of the tenants, who can rent by the week or the month, are on welfare, Social Security or pensions.

The lengthy moratorium will provide advocates for the homeless with additional time to persuade religious and social service agencies to purchase and fix up more Skid Row hotels in a 50-block area east of downtown.

The Skid Row Housing Trust, dedicated to preserving the housing, has already set up a nonprofit organization to purchase and rehabilitate three of the hotels. In addition, the Community Redevelopment Agency has created a corporation that has purchased a dozen more area hotels for rehabilitation.

Barbara Zeidman, director of the city’s rent stabilization program, said the council’s action will safeguard 273 buildings and 25,000 tenants citywide.

“This is the first time the city has asked for replacement housing,” Zeidman said. “It’s a positive disincentive to demolition.”