The City Council unanimously directed staff Monday to continue taking stock of rental housing in West Hollywood and develop a program for rehabilitating the city's many aging properties.
Officials are attempting to come up with a plan that incentivizes property owners to invest in building upgrades in this era of dwindling public resources and sky-high rents. Safeguarding tenants' rights while trying to manage rehabilitation costs further complicates the issue.
"It's not our responsibility to work with landlords who are not taking care of their properties," Mayor Abbe Land said. "Giving them the monies to fix it, I just don't think that's right. That's not what public dollars are for."
Mayor Pro Tempore John D'Amico accused Land and other council members of focusing too heavily on concerns about subsidizing landlords for property rehabs that could come from private investment.
"I don't want to give money to landlords either," D'Amico said. "What I want to do is make the places where the residents of our city live healthier."
West Hollywood has 24,042 residential units, 15,049 of which are rent-controlled, according to a report by the Clark Consulting Group. Eighty percent of residents are renters.
"About 90% of the housing stock is more than 30 years old," the report states. "These housing units older than 30 years may require significant rehabilitation and upgrades, such as electrical, plumbing, seismic retrofits and roof repairs."
Cost estimates range widely from an average of $10,000 spent on every rental unit over 30 years old—$187 million citywide—to $20,000 per unit totaling $375 million.
Property owner Donald Elmblad told council members rent control discourages investment in building repairs and upgrades. The retiree described his experience with a rent-control tenant who over 17 years paid $160 a month for a one-bedroom unit, on which Elmblad said he spent $126,000 in upgrades.
"Rent control has really screwed me up royally," Elmblad said.
Ed Buck, a rent-control tenant for more than 20 years, countered that the majority of units in West Hollywood rent for pricy market rates, freeing up plenty of money that landlords could invest in rehabilitation.
He said the council should "mandate that when a unit goes to market rate, certain standards must be met ... of energy efficiency, insulation and decency."
The council instructed staff from the Human Services and Rent Stabilization Department to report back in six months with a draft program for housing rehabilitation.