City of Los Angeles files petition to save Skid Row housing units
The City of Los Angeles is taking action to save 2,000 housing units in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles from being dissolved.
The Skid Row Housing Trust, an organization that operates 29 buildings in Skid Row, recently announced that it could no longer operate due to the unlivable conditions of the buildings. Residents have been dealing with cockroach infestations and broken elevators, doors and bathrooms for years.
Thursday Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced the city filed a petition to establish a "public health and safety receivership" for the Skid Row Housing Trust. This move does not change property ownership, but a court-appointed receiver will have the authority to take control, fix problems and bring the properties up to code.
"Our receiver is going to take care of things that are a threat to life and to limb before he takes care of the threat to property," said L.A. City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto.
Once the receiver is officially appointed next week the first order of business will be to use $500,000 of his own credit to rehabilitate the nine most decrepit buildings. He will then assess the time and cost required to upgrade the remaining buildings, which Feldstein Soto expects to take months, not years.
