|
By Lookout Staff
August 10 -- A year
after Santa Monica officials
took up the issue, the City
Council Tuesday is expected
to finally put a price on how
much landlords must pay to house
and feed tenants, and their
pets, who are temporarily relocated.
After researching prices at
“modest” hotels
-- such as Best Western, Comfort
Inn, Days Inn and Travelodge
-- City staff is recommended
requiring landlords to provide
tenants with $135 a day for
housing.
The proposed law also requires
landlords to give each individual
displaced $25 a day for meals,
compared to Santa Monica City
and State employees, who have
per diem meal allowances that
range between $34 and $45 per
day.
According to staff, “$25
per day is reasonable in the
context of landlord-paid relocation
benefits, in part since unrelocated
tenants have substantial meal
expenses anyway and the benefit
by definition represents a partial
compensation.”
Households also would be given
$1 a day for laundry, if tenants
have their own laundry facilities
in the unit.
Humans aren’t the only
ones assured a place to stay.
If the tenant cannot bring along
a pet, landlords would pay $45
a day to place dogs in Santa
Monica’s only kennel,
and $25 a day for cats.
“A pet allowance should
be payable only to those tenants
who actually board their pets
and do not utilize alternate,
cost-free pet accommodations
during the relocation,”
according to the staff report.
“For example, if the
tenant stays at a hotel that
accepts pets, or if the tenant
stays with relatives who allow
the pet, the benefit would not
be payable,” staff said.
The new law governs temporary
relocation mandated by a code
compliance order for no longer
than 30 days, according to the
staff report. The Code exempts
relocations due to earthquakes
and natural disasters.
The flat-fees would not apply
in relocations that last longer
than 30 days, in which case,
the relocation fees are still
determined under current City
guidelines that allow tenants
and landlords to find an apartment
or other housing, either comparable,
or better, than the vacated
unit.
Unlike laws in Berkeley or
West Hollywood, the proposed
ordinance does not limit the
amount of time that a landlord
has to pay for temporary housing,
according to staff.
The ordinance also explicitly
denies benefits to “a
tenant who causes or substantially
contributes to the condition
requiring the order to vacate,”
and establishes an appeals process
for landlords.
The ordinance comes after a
case reported in The Lookout
two years ago that involved
nearly $50,000 in relocation
fees – almost half fronted
by the City -- for a family
being temporarily housed at
a Travel Lodge on Pico Boulevard.
("Family
Fights to Stay Off Streets,
as Relocation Costs Soar,"
and "Family
Still Struggles as City Closes
Unusual Housing Case.")
Eventually the units the family
lived in were declared uninhabitable,
and the family was paid a permanent
relocation fee, on average,
of about $6,500. But not before
landlord, Ricco Ross, had paid
nearly $25,000 to temporarily
relocate the family at the local
motel.
| 
