Affordable Housing Group Tells Council: Pasadena’s Tenant Protection Ordinance, Doesn’t Protect

After the exodus of Fuller Theological Seminary students, staff, and alumni from 197 apartments, all of whom were not eligible for relocation fees under Pasadena’s Tenant Protection Ordinance, an affordable housing group on Monday asked the City Council to change the ordinance.

The group said the ordinance contains a loophole which prevented any of those expelled from the former Fuller apartments to avail themselves of its benefits.

Adopted in 2004, the ordinance requires landlords of buildings set for demolition or vacated for other reasons to pay a relocation allowance equal to two months fair market rent as well as a moving expense to the removed tenants.

“The Tenant Protection Ordinance has an unbelievable loophole. The ordinance is toothless and not worthy of its name,” Darrel Cozen of the Greater Pasadena Affordable Housing Group said.

Two years ago, Fuller sold the 190-unit apartment complex at 260 North Los Robles to a development firm called Carmel Partners. The tenants were recently evicted on July 9, with due notice given by the Seminary at the beginning of February.

Several of the former tenants struggled to find alternative low-income housing, including the Korean family of Kidon Eom who had lived in Fuller housing for seven years. Pasadena Now staff visited the new apartment of the family of four in Glendale where by a miracle the family is paying less for an equally sized two-bedroom apartment that is closer to work for him and school for the kids. The family did not receive relocation help.

Students who were relocated to other Fuller housing did receive between $1,000 to $2000 in relocation fees. The extended seminary community did not receive relocation help, including some who had lived in the apartments for 16 years.

A clause in the tenant protection ordinance exempts landlords who give a legal notice to move in 30 days so long as it is not terminating a lease agreement and is leasing on a month-to-month basis.

“We had never understood what that means for eleven years. Since no landlord who is planning to demolish his units gives a tenant a longer lease or extends the previous year-long lease, it is perfectly legal to make them leave in 30 days and then to pay them nothing, zero,” Cozen said.

In Los Angeles, seniors can receive $9,300 if they have lived in that unit for 3 years or less according to Greater Pasadena Affordable Housing Group advocate Jill Shook. She said the Los Angeles ordinance helps relocate in a fair and just way, however, the Pasadena ordinance exempts landlords from being accountable according to Shook.

“It is not a tenant protection ordinance. This is an ordinance protecting the landlords,” Jill Shook said.

One of the tenants who was required to relocate to other student housing attended the Council meeting with her young daughter to question why the law that was designed to help people like her had failed.

“My question is who does the law pertain to? For us and the 200 families that were displaced, it’s not fair for us to receive nothing when it wasn’t our fault. I’m asking for some help in the future,” Melissa Hicks said.

A major concern for strengthening the ordinance is to help in particular seniors, persons with disabilities and low income people who might otherwise be forced out of Pasadena when a demolition occurs.

“By not protecting these tenants, we are ushering them out. Most of them fall into the categories of persons of color, persons with disabilities. We are gentrifying that area at such a high rate that we will not have low-income people in the City of Pasadena. Stem the tide of the exodus of low-income people,” Michelle White said.

Mayor Terry Tornek said the issue was important enough to agendize at the next City Council meeting which will meet September 21.