Glendale Sides With Landlord Group on Rent-Mediation Plan

Caught between complaints of gouging from tenants and rising costs from apartment owners, Glendale officials have scrapped a proposed city rent-mediation program in favor of one sponsored by landlords.

For financial reasons, the City Council accepted an offer by Herbert Molano, president of the Glendale Apartment Assn., to develop a private, self-policing program whose mediation panel would have no legal authority to settle disputes, officials said.

It would cost Glendale nothing, while a city program would have carried a $160,000 price tag, Councilman Dave Weaver said.

“That’s about two police officers a year,” he said. “Having the private sector do it means money that doesn’t have to be foolishly spent.”

But some renters said the Molano plan favors apartment owners.

“I think [the council will] side with the owners nearly every time,” said Linda Morton, who recently moved from her one-bedroom apartment on Brand Boulevard after the rent jumped from $650 to $850 a month. “I don’t know what the solution is, but this isn’t it.”

Glendale rentals are at a premium. The city of 200,000 has about 46,000 apartment units and a vacancy rate of 1.8%, officials said. In the 1990s, Glendale’s population increased by 15,000, but only 1,500 units were built. “There is a critical shortage of rental housing in Glendale, particularly of affordable housing,” said Madalyn Blake, Glendale’s director of community development and housing.

The median monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment, which peaked at $1,200 during the first six months of the year, is $1,030, according to the city. Prices are significantly higher in the north end of town. The city’s rents and vacancy rate are comparable to those in neighboring Pasadena and Burbank, officials said.

The landlord association will deliver a detailed plan for the mediation program Dec. 11. The initial proposal calls for a panel consisting of an apartment owner, a renter, a Realtor, a city representative and a “neutral person,” such as a homeowner.

Jess Duran, Glendale’s assistant director of community development and housing, said the tenants’ fear of a biased panel are understandable. “You could argue that the tenants would be unhappy with anything short of a rent-control program,” he said.

But the mediation board could urge landlords to be reasonable in setting increases, Duran said. “It’s based on mostly peer pressure,” he said.

Panelists will provide regular status reports to the council, Duran added. “If they can make this work with less government involvement, more power to them,” Blake said. “[Molano] is looking for ways to protect the tenants while protecting the rental market.”

The council’s original plan called for a city mediation panel of two tenants, two landlords and a neutral party. The panel would have had the authority to impose fines of $500 on landlords who use evictions to punish tenants seeking mediation.

Molano said his panel will try to educate landlords and tenants, find imaginative solutions to various problems and then “let the market work.”

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Times Staff Writer Kristina Sauerwein contributed to this report.