Chinatown tenants fight eviction and decline ‘unfavorable settlement’ backed by Councilmember Hernandez

Monica Ruiz, 53, has lived in the Hillside Villa apartments in Chinatown with her husband and two children for the past 25 years. The 124-unit complex was built in 1989 and had a 30-year affordability covenant agreement with the City of Los Angeles to maintain low rent prices.

The agreement, however, expired in 2019, and since then, many long-time tenants like Ruiz have been fighting rent increases of up to 200% and 300% and possible eviction. She said her rent was previously $1,000, and now the building owner wants to increase it to $3,200.

"My husband is currently sick, and my oldest daughter is the only one working. We can't afford higher rent prices," she said. 

Alejandro Gutierrez, another tenant living in the complex for 22 years, said his rent is currently $1,163, and the owner wants to increase it to $2,810. He said it would be almost impossible for him to afford that amount of rent with his job as a day laborer, mainly in construction. 

35 additional families are facing similar situations. 

To fight the large displacement, tenants requested the help of their councilmember, Eunises Hernandez, CD1. She agreed to help. 

Initially, the idea was that the City of Los Angeles would take ownership of the complex through eminent domain, but this didn't happen. 

A memo by the Los Angeles Housing Department in April indicated that the complex, located at 636 North Hill Place in Los Angeles, has 123 tenants and one manager unit.

Out of the 123 tenant units, 17 units are at a market rate where tenants agreed to pay the stipulated amount, 68 have Section 8 rental vouchers and can pay the uncovenanted rents, and 38 are low-income households without Section 8 vouchers. 

The memo indicated that to acquire Hillside Villa, the City would have to pay about $93 million. Additionally, the owner had no interest in selling. Instead, the Los Angeles City Council approved a $15 million deal to help tenants stay housed by subsidizing their rent for the next 10 years.

"Unfair" clauses 

While helping to subsidize the rent of dozens of tenants seems like a good idea, the fine print worries them. Some tenants and their attorneys received a copy of the "Stipulation of Dismissal" on August 23, 2024, and they are calling it an "unfavorable, one-sided settlement" deal. 

Jacob Woocher, one of the attorneys representing tenants, said the agreement seriously abridges the tenants' basic rights and leaves them extremely vulnerable to eviction over the next six years.

"The way it works is that the court retains jurisdiction over the cases. That means that the case is put to the side for now, but anytime the landlord wants to bring it back up, all he has to do is file a motion with the court and then it's back on the courts," explained Woocher.

He said the agreement has extremely restrictive rules regarding the tenant's behavior. It is basically a one-strike  and you're out policy. 

"This includes an absolute prohibition on using noise, using noise amplifying devices, including, but not limited to radios, speakers, bull horns, microphones and megaphones anywhere in the common areas of the subject property," said Woocher. 

This affects the tenants if they want to have a birthday celebration in the courtyard and play music on the radio. Another example is if the tenants want to organize a peaceful meeting where they are sharing information about tenants' rights and they want to use a microphone to amplify the sound. Other restrictions include things like yelling at, harassing, intimidating, menacing, threatening, slandering or defaming the landlord, his employees, agents on the property or any other tenant on the property. Failing to any of these restrictions would be subject to immediate eviction. 

"If one of the tenants wanted to complain about the landlord, that could be interpreted as slander and that could subject the tenant to eviction," said Woocher. "These are rules that exist for the next six years."

Instead of signing the stipulation, the affected tenants and their attorneys sent a letter to Councilwoman Hernandez asking her to reconsider supporting an agreement that they consider "disappointing."

Mixed feelings towards the City

Rene Alexander, 62, has lived in the complex for 22 years. While he is also fighting eviction, he supports the work Councilwoman Hernandez is doing. He said some tenants are not being fair with the councilwoman and haven't allowed her to show the help she can provide.

He said that at this point, the right thing to do is for tenants' attorneys to send the landlord's attorneys a rebuttal of what is fair and what is legal to do.

"They sent the [complaint] letter to CD1, but they also have to send it to the landlord's attorneys," said Alexander. "I personally won't sign any agreement unless it is fair." 

On Sunday morning, a group of tenants from the Hillside Villa Tenants arrived outside of Councilwoman Hernandez's home to express their concern about the stipulation drafted by the landlord's attorney in collaboration with the CD1 office. 

While the councilwoman listened to their comments and concerns, she suggested they sign the document, calling it a "good neighbor agreement." The tenants protesting felt offended by her reaction, and they said they hoped she could fight for a better deal. 

"[Hernandez] says she is from the people but now that she's part of the politicians she forgot where  she really coming from," said Ruiz. "When she was running her campaign she came for support and we gave it to her. Now she gets offended when we protest outside her house."

In response to the alleged lack of attention, Councilwoman Hernandez said that she has been fighting for the acquisition of Hillside Villa and pursued every avenue available to move that forward. Once she discovered political opposition to acquiring the complex, Hernandez looked for other avenues.

"That's why we fought to extend the affordable housing covenants and ensure that this building didn't just flip into market-rate housing," she said in a statement. "That's why we put forward $250,000 of our discretionary funds to cover rent debt and why we're working to find more." 

Hernandez assured she is going to keep fighting to keep vulnerable tenants housed, not just in Hillside Villa but across District 1.