New Los Angeles reforms protect affordable housing

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Ernesto Sanchez and his parents moved into a studio apartment when he was 4. Now, 22, he continues to squeeze into the single room with his family.

Their rent is $500 month. When the landlord threatened to raise the rates for the entire building, tenants panicked.

"A lot of people here pay around 50 percent of their income just in rent," said Sanchez, who studies chemistry at El Camino College.

A loophole in the housing law spared them the increase, but thousands others are not so lucky. On Wednesday, scores of renters rallied for reforms at City Hall.

Affordable housing advocates won approval of two measures described as small steps. Passed unanimously, they will upgrade a program to repair code violations and update the city's list of rent-controlled apartments.

Tenants say rent-controlled units are disappearing as landlords opt to demolish older structures and build newer, pricier ones.

"Seventy thousand evictions get filed in Los Angeles every year," Elena Popp of Eviction Defense Network told the city council.

Rev. Roberta Morris with the Renters Day Coalition says the situation is getting worse.

"Every month we lose another 100 units due to the Ellis act evictions," Morris said.

City Councilman Gil Cedillo, who heads the housing committee, says 65 percent of residents live in apartment buildings. He says policies must address two goals: preserve older units and encourage new construction, but accommodating developers is problematic, too.

"Clearly, clearly, clearly, it is difficult to do business in the city of Los Angeles. One department tells you yes, another department tells you no," Cedillo said.

Cedillo says the city is working to streamline the building permit process and will soon pass a half dozen reforms for developers.

Meanwhile, Sanchez and his family wait. They need more than a single room to live in, but have no better option now.