Tenants At Rent-Controlled Barrington Plaza Aren’t Going Without A Fight

In May, residents of the 712-unit Barrington Plaza in West L.A. were told they had only months to move out. Faced with losing their rent-controlled apartments, they’re not going quietly.

Chanting “Corporate greed has got to go,” more than 50 people on Thursday, many of them tenants, protested outside the corporate office of their landlord, Douglas Emmett Inc., in Santa Monica.

When it’s all said and done, it will be one of the largest mass evictions in the L.A. region in years, at a time when the affordable housing crisis continues to deepen.

“We’re here to try and fight to keep our homes,” said Michelle Kunzelmann, a Barrington Plaza tenant of five years. “It seems like they're doing this to get out of rent stabilization, which is going to no doubt add to the homeless and housing crisis in L.A.”

Douglas Emmett issued the eviction notices in May, citing the need to install badly needed fire suppression upgrades, like water lines.

“Although the future use of Barrington Plaza remains uncertain, the buildings will undergo life safety improvements over the next several years — a good thing for the safety and security of whatever future use is made of the buildings in light of two tragic fires that occurred on-site in the last ten years,” Douglas Emmett spokesperson Eric Rose said in a statement.

But multiple tenants at the protest said they felt Douglas Emmett was taking advantage of the Ellis Act, a state law that allows landlords to issue evictions if they plan to close down the rental operation. However, developers and landowners have used loopholes in the law to convert rentals into for-sale condominiums.

Larry Gross, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival, has been assisting tenants with their resistance, and said Douglas Emmett has “no intention of going out of the rental business.”

Larry Gross speaking at a protest outside the corporate office of landlord Douglas Emmett Inc. in Santa Monica on Thursday, Aug. 10. Gross is the executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival.

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Victoria Ivie

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LAist

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The Barrington Plaza Tenants Association has filed a lawsuit against Douglas Emmett to block the evictions. And a judge is slated on Tuesday to hear arguments over whether the evictions should be put on hold until the legal outcome is settled.

Former Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin, who represented Barrington Plaza’s district, was at the protest Thursday. He told LAist he fears that if the mass eviction goes through, around 54 buildings in L.A. could decide to follow suit, affecting “thousands of families.”

Gross said he fears similar consequences.

“This city is facing a huge housing crisis and homeless crisis. We cannot afford to lose 712 rent-controlled apartments,” he said. “If we're really serious about dealing with our affordable housing and homeless crisis, then we have to make sure people are not thrown out on the streets and existing affordable housing is demolished.”