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Tenants to Confront Landlord in His UCLA Classroom |
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Excerpted from CES advisory
A group of low income tenants will attempt enter their landlord’s real estate investment class this evening (Tuesday, May 15) and come face-to-face with the man who is trying to displace them. They plan to demand he stop what they say are illegal attempts to evict them.
 The
tenants’ landlord is UCLA Professor Eric Sussman who teaches a Real
Estate Investment class at UCLA Anderson School. The tenants say they
are concerned that a professor at a taxpayer-funded institution may be
setting an example for his students that the way to manage real estate
holdings and maximize profits is through illegal business practices.
Tenants are requesting that the University conduct a complete review of
the business practices of Sussman.
The tenants live in a 66-unit rent-controlled complex in Echo Park.
They are mostly low income Latino and Korean families and seniors, many
of who have Section 8 rent subsidy vouchers. The tenants are members of
the Coalition for Economic Survival (CES).
Over one year ago, Morton Gardens’ tenants gained support from CES and
the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles to defend themselves against
the mass evictions occurring amongst the Section 8 tenants living at
the building. Legal Aid eventually filed a lawsuit against Sussman in
an attempt to stop what they said was continued harassment of these
low-income families.
Tenants filed complaints with the Los Angeles Housing Department
alleging that the evictions were a violation of the Rent Stabilization
Ordinance (RSO). City officials responded by siding with the tenants
and supporting their lawsuit against their landlord.
Last January, in an attempt to further coerce Section 8 and other
long-term tenants to move, Sussman announced new plans to convert the
property into condominiums.
Across Los Angeles, landlords like Sussman are attempting to force
Section 8 tenants to move in hopes of evading Rent Control and raising
the rent levels of their apartments. As a result, in a tight rental
market where landlords are refusing to accept Section 8 voucher
holders, tenants like those at Morton Gardens, are faced with the
prospect of having to take their children out of their schools and move
far away from their neighborhood and friends. (The Coalition for
Economic Survival provided this report. Read the rest of it at:
www.CESinAction.org)
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