On Tuesday, amid the fallout from this month’s explosive L.A. City Council racism scandal, the body’s remaining members unanimously elected Paul Krekorian, who represents the east San Fernando Valley, as its next president.
Krekorian then declared that his first objective is to begin to restore the public’s trust.
But if the City Council was hoping for smoother public relations, there are already signs it won’t come easily on the issue of housing.
“L.A. City Council voted unanimously to elect a landlord as president,” blasted the L.A. Tenants Union, an influential tenants’ rights group, on Twitter.
The union blamed Krekorian for “blocking funding for the Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance and for lifting tenant protections.”
Krekorian owns a rental property: Along with their own home in North Hollywood, he and his wife Tamar own a fourplex in Toluca Lake that the couple bought in 2016 for $1.1 million, according to property records. The 2,700-square-foot complex was built in 1954 and has a current estimated value of nearly $1.7 million, according to Redfin.
As a council member, though, Krekorian has typically recused himself on votes related to landlord and tenant issues, including on this month’s critical vote to end the city’s long-running eviction moratorium and COVID-related tenant protections. The council voted 12-0 for the action, with both Krekorian and Curren Price abstaining.
The L.A. City Council passed its Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance in June 2021. The law, which went into effect three months later, was part of the city’s wave of COVID-era tenant protections and aimed to increase penalties for abusive landlords, including potentially heavy fines and civil lawsuits.
But more than a year later, a recent report by the website L.A. Taco revealed no landlords had been found guilty of actually violating the ordinance, despite more than 2,300 complaints from tenants.
Critics say part of the issue is that the law does not include reimbursement fees for lawyers, which makes it hard for tenants to get representation, and funding has been an issue. Although the City Council approved some funding in a later city budget, no funding was actually approved for enforcement of the new law when it went into effect.
Krekorian serves as chair of the council’s Budget and Finance Committee. A representative for the L.A. Tenants Union declined to elaborate on the group’s opposition, instead deferring to comments by two tenants who live in Krekorian’s district. One of those tenants, Clare Letmon, cited Krekorian for holding up funding for enforcement of the ordinance and for the city’s eminent domain claim — a measure to protect tenants — on a neighborhood apartment building where rents had skyrocketed.
Letmon’s building was also recently damaged by fire. After that incident, Letmon said by email, a field deputy from Krekorian’s office callously refused to offer adequate help, instead declaring that “the council member welcomes everyone in the district, including the landlord.”
“I can see why tenants don’t see an ally in Paul Krekorian,” she added.
A representative for Krekorian did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While tenant groups may be inclined to dismiss the new council president, landlord groups see a friendly face.
“Of anybody on the City Council,” said AAGLA Executive Director Dan Yukelson, “he can appreciate what our issues are and what our problems are because he owns rental property himself.”
But Yukelson cited Krekorian’s history of abstaining on landlord-related votes, and wasn’t expecting his election to translate into more landlord-friendly policy. Krekorian has joined other council members in visibly offering support and resources to tenants during the pandemic, including on his council district website.
Bigger industry implications could still be coming. As president, Krekorian has the power to appoint members to committees. On Monday, in the wake of the racist conversation scandal, the council removed both Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo from their committee assignments, which included a Housing Committee chair post for Cedillo.
That post could potentially be filled by Nithya Raman, a progressive council member and urban planner who represents renter-heavy Koreatown and currently serves as vice chair. Raman has positioned herself as a strong tenant advocate, drawing ire from some landlord groups.
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