City Shuts Apartments, Assails Inaction : Housing: In issuing evictions, officials criticize U.S. agency that holds mortgage on dilapidated apartments. But government replies that it is not responsible for the upkeep.
Accusing the federal government of being an irresponsible landlord that contributes to homelessness, city officials took the rare step Tuesday of issuing eviction notices to tenants of a large, dilapidated apartment house in Hollywood.
The city attorney’s office said the federal Resolution Trust Corp., which holds the mortgage on the gang-infested 54-unit building at 1805 Wilcox Ave., failed to respond to repeated pleas to foreclose on the property so that it could be brought up to code and converted to low-income housing.
The building, which is to be clear of tenants in 30 days, will remain in private hands and there are no plans to renovate it or convert it to low-income housing.
Most renters, who were given 30 days to vacate the building, are single tenants, but half a dozen families with children also must find places to live.
Maria Iboy and Sergio Ortiz of Guatemala live with their three small children in three clean but cramped rooms of the apartment house.
Ortiz, an unemployed mechanic, said he does not know where his family will go.
“I don’t know because I don’t have any money,” he said.
Tenants are eligible for relocation money of $2,000 for individuals and $5,000 for families, but the building owners are responsible for payment and city officials say it is doubtful that Mike Joy Enterprises, the deed holders--who have not been making mortgage payments--would have such money.
When city officials arrived with eviction notices, mounds of reeking garbage were piled up to three feet high in a yard. Debris, including a plastic bag full of garbage, had been flung from windows and clung to the branches of a row of loquat trees.
Building inspectors cited a litany of violations, including stopped-up plumbing, missing windows, lack of heating, holes in ceilings and walls, vermin infestation and inoperable fire doors.
“This is a real fire trap,” said Ernest Padilla, city building inspector.
The RTC took over the mortgage of the notorious four-story brick building after Far West Savings, the previous mortgage-holder, filed for bankruptcy in 1991. Because of the deteriorating condition of the building, city officials said, the RTC could have foreclosed on the property and turned it over to a public agency for renovation into low-cost housing.
“We’ve made numerous attempts to deal with the RTC,” said Supervising Deputy City Atty. Richard Bobb, who heads the Los Angeles Interagency Slum Housing Task Force. “They took no action to remedy the situation.”
On June 24, Deputy City Atty. Asha Saund Greenberg wrote to a property management subcontractor of the RTC to inquire if federal officials were contemplating foreclosure of the Wilcox apartment.
“In view of the waste occurring at the property, as well as the complete uncreditworthiness of the current owners,” Greenberg wrote, “it is irresponsible for the Resolution Trust Corp. to ignore this situation any longer.”
On June 29, RTC attorney Donna S. Wolf replied:
“While this office is sympathetic to the concerns raised in your letter, there is no legal obligation on the part of a lender to foreclose.”
An RTC representative said it is against the policy of the federal holding company to foreclose on such property to prevent deterioration.
“We are not responsible for the upkeep of that building,” said Anne Freeman of the RTC’s Washington office. “We’re here to make recovery for the taxpayer, and tying up a piece of property is not benefiting the taxpayer.”
But an RTC official who asked not to be identified said that such property is frequently sold for pennies on the dollar and public use would be beneficial to taxpayers.
The official went on to say that the reason the government does not foreclose on buildings such as the Wilcox apartment house is the “RTC doesn’t want the liability for problem property.”
The Wilcox building has a history of disrepair dating to the late 1980s, according to city officials.
On Jan. 12, city building officials issued orders to convicted slumlord Mark Savoy, who then owned the building, to make repairs to the apartment house by Feb. 12.
Instead, Savoy transferred the deed to the property to Mike Joy Enterprises, run by Phillip McCants and Michael Zaremba.
Zaremba told The Times that he gives rent reductions to tenants in exchange for making repairs.
Zaremba said members of the 18th Street, Grape Street, West Side Lads and Hollywood Dogs gangs live in the building and make repairs for him.
“It’s harmony,” he said. “They help.”
In the meantime, a city task force to abate drug nuisances warned Zaremba and McCants to clean up drug dealing and prostitution at the apartment house.
But the building continued to deteriorate.
On Sept. 2, Zaremba and McCants agreed to a plea bargain in court in which they were fined $5,000 for building violations and were ordered to repair the apartment house by Monday.
When inspectors arrived Monday, the repairs had not been made and officials decided to vacate the building.
“It’s a real tragedy as far as I’m concerned,” said Deputy City Atty. Bobb. “I don’t consider this one of our success stories.”
