FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Trisha Lendo, LATU Hollywood Local 617-470-6403, [email protected] Hundreds of Seniors in Hollywood Mislead About Living in Affordable Housing WHAT: PRESS CONFERENCE: Hundreds of Seniors were falsely mislead by Meta Housing Corporation that they were living in Affordable Housing. Many face large rent increases that they cannot afford. WHEN: THIS SATURDAY, February 1, 2020 Members of the press should arrive at 1:00 PM WHERE: At the corner of Garfield Place and Hollywood Boulevard, 90028 The Hollywood Local of the Los Angeles Tenants Union (LATU)—the tenant-led housing movement—has been assisting a large group of senior citizens to organize a tenant’s association in their building, The Metro in East Hollywood at 1717 Garfield Pl. This group of seniors were purposely misled by the building's owner, Meta Housing Corporation, who claimed that they were protected under affordable housing when in fact Meta Housing has not filed any low-income housing paperwork with the city. The Metro building at 1717 Garfield Pl. is home to seniors on fixed incomes who cannot afford the large rent increase Meta Housing is imposing on them. Despite written requests by the tenants to meet with Meta Housing to negotiate a reasonable rent increase, the owner has refused to respond. Meta Housing rents to a majority of non-monolingual English speakers—including Armenian, Russian, Thai, Korean, and Spanish—yet the owner has refused to communicate in any language other than English. This is not the first time this slumlord has preyed on seniors. In 2018, Meta Housing hiked the rent on seniors living in the Metro building in Chinatown by 8%, which many of the longtime residents could not afford.  On Saturday Feb. 1st the tenants of the building will hold a press conference demanding that Meta Housing meet with them and negotiate a fair rent increase. This diverse group of tenants will share their stories and members of the L.A. Tenants will be present in support of their cause. Housing is a human right and we will not let the seniors in our community be taken advantage of by unscrupulous landlords and the city government that protects them. ###