CommentsGUEST WORDS-With the growing movement to Defund the Police and the significance of Black Lives Matters, LA renters are facing many of the issues being raised by these public demands for justice and equality.
Here’s an example. CES organizers have been assisting tenants at a Westlake property when an aggressive landlord started harassing them in attempts to get them to move. They’ve faced many illegal entry attempts, unfounded property damage claims and Ellis Act eviction threats.
The Fuentes family, a low income monolingual Spanish speaking immigrant family of 5 with 3 children, have been overwhelmed by continuous threats. They are long-term, low rent tenants living in a rent-controlled building.
CES organizers have taught them and the other tenants how to exercise their right to demand COVID-19 Stay at Home health and safety precautions.
The landlord has resorted to use the LA Police Department to advance his harassment strategy. CES has seen an upward trend of the police being called by owners to intimidate tenants, especially when tenants are low-income renters of color.
Prior to the July 4th weekend, the landlord summoned LAPD claiming tenants were violating his right to enter apartments. The police officers unaware of tenant law, came down on the side of the landlord. CES Organizer John Parks showed up to intervene on the tenants’ behalf, informing the officers of the tenants’ rights and of the COVID-19 health risk to all parties by entering the unit. In fact, one tenant at the building has tested Coronavirus positive. The LAPD officer replied, “The Stay-at-Home order doesn’t matter here. It is up to the landlord if he wants to expose people and I am 98% sure my supervisor will agree with me.”
John insisted this was a civil matter, not a criminal matter and that LAPD should not intervene. An LAPD supervisor was called at John’s request and agreed. The Supervisor informed the officers that LAPD did not have jurisdiction in this situation and they promptly left the scene along with the owner.
Clearly a victory for the tenants, this demonstrated that when organized and informed, you can uphold your rights. Unfortunately, landlords are increasingly relying on fear and intimidation in attempts to displace, raise rents and deny tenants their rights.
This example justifies the effort to Defund the Police as a means of redirecting funds away from a broken criminal justice system and directing funds to much needed community services. LAPD should not be an enforcer for landlords attempting to harass and deny tenants their rights.
(Larry Gross is the Executive Director of the Coalition for Economic Survival.)
-cw
