Hahn Announces Program to Evict Drug Dealers

City Atty. James Hahn has announced a program to evict drug dealers from apartment buildings, a weapon in the war on drugs made possible by a new state law.

Last week, the City Council approved $170,410 to fund a narcotics eviction team that will target neighborhoods already getting attention from the city’s narcotics abatement unit, Hahn said.

Under the Focused Attack Linking Community Organizations and Neighborhoods program, city prosecutors, LAPD officers and building inspectors have cracked down on apartment buildings where drug dealers and gang members are active.

Hahn said that before the law took effect Jan. 1 giving him power to initiate evictions, his office had been limited in what it could do if landlords refused to evict drug dealers.

“This new law gives city prosecutors an important new legal weapon to fight the problems that illegal drug activities bring to a neighborhood,” Hahn said. “It will allow us to step in and evict the people responsible for such problems when landlords either lack the will or feel too threatened to take the action themselves.”

Hahn estimated that the new narcotics eviction team will handle about 40 cases each month. Last year, the LAPD served 1,700 narcotics search warrants, the majority involving rental housing.