Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 18.30 establishing a Proactive Rental Housing Inspection Program, read and adopted as read.  (Citywide)
Report from Development. Services. Recommendation to adopt an ordinance amending the Municipal Code by adding Chapter 18.30 relating to a proactive rental housing inspection program. Read the first time and lead over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading Citywide. Mr. City Manager, am I turning this over to your staff first? Yes. Vice Mayor, council members. This is an item that was first discussed when we last updated our housing element last year. Since that time, we've been working behind the scenes to address this very, very important issue. I'm going to turn this over to our development services director and the deputy director, the same Amy Bodak and Angela Reynolds to make a presentation on a program that we're recommending tonight to help address the issue of tenants rights. Thank you. Ms.. Modak Madam Vice Mayor. Members of the City Council, thank you for your time today. As the city manager said, we are here tonight to talk about a very critically important issue. We did discuss this briefly a year and a half ago or a year ago when we adopted the housing element. And the housing element is a very powerful tool in that it is really setting for us the road forward for the next several years until 2021. On the programs and policies that we're going to be focusing on to ensure adequate housing opportunities and adequate housing resources to all sectors of the community. The housing element has a number of programs that we implement on a on an almost regular basis with really not a lot of fanfare. Part of those programs are just part of the daily operations of the city we are part of. And part of that is something that we want to talk to you tonight. It's about code enforcement in particular. When we were adopting the housing element, there were a number of concerns that were raised by stakeholders about the habitability of our housing stock. And frankly, our housing stock is aging. We are an older city. A lot of our housing stock is, frankly, over 30 years old. We have homes that range from single family homes to 20 units and more. We have large complexes. We have multifamily complexes that are high rises. We have multifamily complexes that are four story buildings. It really runs the gamut across the city. And because of that, we did hear the stakeholders concerns about habitability and how we were addressing habitability, both under state law, which does require inspections for multi-family housing and then for for our specific program. And so what I want to talk to you about tonight is the program that we're proposing to you tonight, which would increase the type of inspections that we are doing above and beyond what's already allowed under state law. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Angela Reynolds. She's the deputy director of development services. Thank you. Thank you, Amy. Good evening, Vice Mayor Lowenthal and Council members. On January 7th, the city council did approve the housing element that has been mentioned here this evening. And one of the primary objectives in that housing element is to conserve and improve existing affordable housing. So just a bit of history on a program that we currently deliver through the Code Enforcement Office. In 1966, the city's Health and Human Services Department operated a proactive inspection program for properties consisting of four or more residential rental units. The reason for the four or more is that the city considers them to be a business and requires a business license and tracks them in that manner. So in line with the housing and excuse me, in line with the housing element, this program was designated to ensure that the city's rental housing comply with the minimum standards for health, safety and welfare of the public in compliance with California Health and Safety Code. 17920. This proactive program incorporates annual inspection fees to those property owners of four or more that help defray the cost of delivering this program in FY 13. This proactive program was transferred to code enforcement. It was in health since 1966. That was all part of the government reform initiative. And I would say that since that time, we've been able to gain more compliance in this realm because they were able to take advantage of all the administrative citations and prosecutions that code enforcement had had in the past. So it's made it a much more robust program, I think. Staff has included new language that provides. I'm going to talk about the prep or the proactive or proactive rental housing inspection program. And I'm just going to call it prep, if that's okay as I go through. And that's something that we're currently doing. However, in light of what we have heard from from the community and some of the advocates as well as the Apartment Owners Association, we've added a couple of things to the ordinance before you tonight that we don't currently do, and those are notification of property owners and tenants prior to us coming out to do one of these proactive inspections. And we've also developed something that a few other cities have, which is a tenant and landlord rights and responsibilities brochure to be provided to tenants by the landlord. And it's also going to be online as well. This brochure includes language advising tenants about how to exercise their legal rights, such as requesting habitability repairs without threat of eviction. We've also added a modification to the inspection process when responding to complaints so that we try to keep it anonymous so that not one unit is singled out in in the apartment building. And then we've also when somebody does not come into compliance and is not working towards compliance, we find them for the first hundred and 20 days as the state code provides 100 200 and $500 for the first 120 days, and then thereafter it's $500 plus penalties every seven days. And then we're also taking them simultaneously to the city prosecutor. So we've met with stakeholder groups, as Amy said, regarding this ordinance on at least six different occasions and incorporated, considered and incorporated feedback from the Legal Aid Foundation housing Long Beach and the Apartment Association of Southern California Cities. So staff's recommendation is to adopt an ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Chapter 18.30 relating to the proactive rental housing inspection program. Read the first time and lead over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for its final reading. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Reynolds. Councilwoman Gonzalez. So I, I know this has been certainly a long journey for many of us in the room here. Many of you have come to council every single time. And so we appreciate that, certainly. But we also know that the struggle for renters is certainly real, something we can't shy away from. And one of the biggest reasons why I'm here and I'm so I ran for city council was from my experience visiting homes and looking at the deplorable situations firsthand. Some of our our residents are living in very bad situations, conditions that affect the health and lives of children in their families. And health housing needs to be healthy and safe for everybody. Renters should not fear retaliation from voicing their their needs and basic needs. And in the last year, I've had the opportunity to meet with housing advocates from housing, Long Beach renters and other supporters on the needs of renters. I've also met with the Apartment Association as well to hear their concerns from the ordinance. And I've worked very diligently and very closely with our development services. Both Amy and Angela have worked very hard on this and to ensure that there's a collaborative voice. In addition to that, there is no easy fix for a problem so enormous. And while I support the core values of Deep as a city, we must take careful policy steps as we deal with the upcoming budget deficit. This is certainly an issue that I am committed to for as long as I'm an elected official. I will continue to work side by side with residents, apartment owners, city staff and other stakeholders to create and maintain comprehensive solutions involving strong, effective policies on safe housing. I want to thank everyone who's been involved. I think what we can get from this is that we have worked collaborative, both on the landlord side, the tenant side and from the city side. And what we can do, what is what is possible for us at this time. I have some amendments that I would like to add to the ordinance to strengthen it for the health and well-being of renters throughout the city. And I will say that. We may have been at odds with each other. I know many of us in this room have not talked to each other. There's landlords on one side, tenants on the other, and I don't feel that it really has to be that way. We're all looking for the same goal. We're just getting shot at different ways. And so I think this is a really good opportunity for us to look at those different ways and how we've collaborated and come up with something very comprehensive and sustainable for our city. So, Councilwoman Gonzalez, we have a maker of a motion and a second. Are you are you asking if they will consider your request? I am. Okay. So if the maker in the second year is amenable, can we hear those from Councilmember Gonzalez? Councilmember Superman and. Okay. And Councilwoman Mongo. You've made a motion. She's going to ask for some consideration for friendly amendment. Okay. Thank you. I forge ahead. I'm sorry. This is a very important issue for all of us, right? So the first couple amendments, all I'll ask for is. It was in the original ordinance. And now I want to see if we can put it back in as a state franchise tax board program. I'd like to see if we can direct staff to incorporate participating in the State Franchise Tax Board Housing Program for those owners who do not comply within 120 days and are unresponsive. These are the worst of the worst landlords. As I mentioned, this was in the original staff report but did not make it so. I want to make sure that we include that in this ordinance. The second thing is for $75,000 for that component to be added into this ordinance, because it will assist with educating both tenants and landlords to create, again, a comprehensive outreach program . And I think it's really important that we include in this all renters. We're not just looking at renters that are included in this ordinance. It's all renters. We're taking a larger approach, not just the four plex's or more everyone. And then thirdly, increasing the frequency of our fines. If after 30 days we've given due process, why should we wait an additional 30 days to to increase the frequency of the fine or to find them find a landlord again? It would be good if we shorten that time. If we can shorten that time to increase the frequency of that fine. And in addition, I think accelerating I think Angela had mentioned this, but accelerating the case to the city prosecutor. If it is a health and safety. Imminent danger. And so those are the three amendments. I hope I was clear. If there's any questions, I'd be happy to. So may I ask you a couple of clarifying questions? I know other members will have questions as well. The $75,000 could you repeat for me and for us, you said, where would these resources come from? What are you directing staff to do? Well, I'm looking I'm asking them to look to see if we I mean, the $75,000 would be something that development services would have to look for in our budget to be able to do some outreach with multiple partners. I see the Apartment Association and Housing Long Beach. I don't know if that's possible, but I would like a collaborative, you know, approach as to how we would use this this $75,000 as far as additional outreach to all tenants. And this is for landlord and tenant education. So it could be a collaborative effort between, for instance, the Apartment Association to develop an education program that would encompass both renters and landlords. Yes. Okay. Vice Vice Mayor That's Amy. If I could just add a little bit to that. When we originally submitted our two from four memo to several months ago, we had suggested this as as a way to help the city reach reach certain segments of the population that may be very hesitant in calling code enforcement or may have language difficulties in doing that. So I think that it would be something that we would look forward to doing. We don't have a specific group in mind. We would be really having to RFP it and we would hope to be able to use several community resources to help us reach this this most needed segment of our community. I would suggest that it's it probably wouldn't really go in the ordinance, but would be something that you would direct us to incorporate. And then we would work with our financial management department to do a budget adjustment if we need to do it or incorporate it into our existing fund balance within the department. Okay. So the second item would would be a request to staff, but not included in the ordinance. And the third item, Councilwoman Gonzales, on frequency, you said shorten the time you would like staff to come back with what a shortened time frame would be on after. Yes, because we have to give due process to landlords. 30 days is our our typical due process in the city. So after that, if instead of waiting an additional 30 days for them to comply or to respond, I would like to shorten that time after the 30 days to maybe two weeks. I mean, there's got to be something else that we could do. Can we agree to it? And the next day it would be 15 days. Okay, let's stay in order, please. Sorry. Okay. Right. Councilmember Supernovas, maker of the motion. Would you like to make any comments at this time? And I'll call on Councilmember Mongeau after that. I'll. I think we're in favor or I'm in favor of the amendments. Okay. And Councilmember Mongo, would you like to comment on the amendments that councilwoman. Gonzales asked for and you had a question. So I just wanted to ask Amy first, do you believe that your division can have net neutrality the way that the fund was set up with the $75,000 allocation? I'm not sure I understand the question. I'm sorry. So there was a request in the friendly amendment that we would set aside $75,000 for outreach development services as an enterprise fund, which is supposed to have a net zero annually. Do you think that within your current year budget or partially this year and partially next year, you would be able to find those funds? Or are you asking us to take something to Budget Committee to find additional funds for? I see. I see the funds for this program does not come from the Development Services Fund. We we do have other sources of funds to do this. Development services. If three, three, seven is really just for planning and building. So we do have other sources of revenue within the department that would not impact those funds. So I do believe that we would be able to accommodate this. If not, I would come back and let you know that. And then on the additional follow up, so I'm definitely in favor of those who are not being responsible to receive more quick and swift response responses from the city. Would a 15 day be a reasonable secondary follow up from your office? We'd need to understand if it was working days or calendar days. We typically right now it's every 30 days. So we do 30, 60, 90 and one, 20, and we can modify that for this specific program and do 15 days. So it be 35, 30, 45, 60, 75. The only issue I would say with this in general is in order for us to implement the State Franchise Tax Board portion of it, we do have to wait the full 120 days. So once we got to our fourth citation, for example, if we did it on the accelerated timeline of a of 75 days afterwards, we would do as Angela had proposed, where we do a every seven days, a continued citation. We would then have to wait the full 120 days before we could start the State Franchise Tax Board referral process. So as long as there is an understanding of that, I think we can work with the the every 15 day request to accelerate the timeline. So let's would it be agreeable to say every 15 calendar days next to Business Day? So if the calendar day lands on a Sunday, it'll be the following Monday. It would be a calendar day. That's correct. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Sounds wonderful. Thank you. Thank you, sir. The maker and seconder of the motion. Except those three items. Councilmember willing to hear public comment? Yes. And I would like to ask our colleagues if they'd like to hear public comment first. Yes. Thank you. That's a great suggestion. So at this time, if there's a member of the public that wish to address Council on item. 28, mayor members of the council, just with those friendly amendments, if this motion were to pass this evening, it would come back as a. First. Reading again. Thank. Yes, thank you. Good afternoon, Council. Vice Mayor Lowenthal. My name is Jim Danno. I currently live in the. Fillmore Historic District. I support the amendment that Councilmember Gonzalez. Has brought before you. I actually there's a way of even increasing the fines. I know it's state mandated, but we're talking about the worst of the. Worst. Landlords. And they deserve to be punished. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening. Council member and council members and vice mayor. My name is Kathleen Irvine. I live in the Walmart Street District and I fully support the the recommendation to adopt the ordinance and Councilwoman Gonzales amendments. I think that if anybody had to live in I live in one of those areas where the there is a certain constituency that is afraid to report things that are wrong with their apartment. And I know that if any of us had to live in those places for a full 30 days or 60 days or 120 days, that we would be voting for the amendments also. Thank you very much. Thank you. Supposed to. Be. Good evening. And hello again. This is the reason I'm here. My name is Kim Rising again. Vice Mayor, Council Member City Staff over 216 East 25th Street. Mr. Andrews District. I've resided in Long Beach in the immediate area for over 30 years. As mentioned, I hold a B.A. and May in political science. I'm retired from General Motors, but still perform as an organist. I play classical, jazz and theater organ. I'm here today to passionately speak towards the issue of the lack of tenant protections in the city. One summer afternoon I was working in my yard. The building to my west was for sale and the owner leaned over my fence and said, I used to live in your house. Is there still black mold there? I replied, Yes, kind of startled. And the previous owner laughed and said Yes, I sold it as is. And I guess they've never fixed the thing, have they? In the last two weeks, my present owner, the second of two owners of my property, painted the exterior of my house. It is the only thing, and I repeat the only thing that they have been doing in repair in my ten year tenancy with this particular owner, the first owner, the one we originally rented from, bragged at the resale of the current property to the present owner. Quote, I did not invest a dime. I'm selling it as is. Although the sale ensued and the second owner who owns it now to date has never repaired anything until the recent painting, there has never been central heat. The fireplace flue is seized open. There is black mold in multiple rooms, there's lead based paint. There is an in sink disposal that is never been repaired. There's a freestanding garage door with the correct frame that cannot be opened. These items were painted over the original circa 1940 Windows, many of which still cannot be opened. The carpet is over 40 years old and has never been replaced. The entire house is leaning to one side on its foundation. This is one of two houses on the property. It is a duplex. My partner and I are retired seniors, 65 and 69. Our health has been severely affected because of the mold and other issues. One of us has AIDS. Presently, we have been given two weeks to evacuate the property so interior repairs can commence verbally. We were only offered one night of motel and one month of storage. We counter offered because we felt these requests were unreasonable and the owner replied via text messaging that our counteroffer was unacceptable and we have not been given any guarantee of reentry. We have signed a lease until April of 2016. No rent adjustments have been offered verbally or otherwise. Our owner is not working in good faith with us and there is nothing that protects us from being evicted in this scenario. How are we as a city to attract a workforce with escalating rents and with property. Tamers. Which intimidate and do not value existing tenants? Thank you. I thank you. Next speaker, please. The honorable vice mayor and Lowenthal and members of the city council. I am Paul Bonner, president of the Apartment Association, California Southern Cities. 333 West Broadway, Long Beach. The Apartment Association provides education and training to residential rental property owners and managers and promotes and strongly advocates on behalf of our industry. In particular, we want our members to comply with our laws and contribute to the economic viability and health of our neighborhoods. These are our core values and are of utmost importance to us. We are pleased to present to you our comments regarding the ordinance before you this evening. Quality rental housing at every socioeconomic level is critical to our community as a whole. With it, we have a vibrant and healthy rental housing stock and an excellent relationship between tenants and rental property owners. Without it, our community is tarnished and the lives of those adversely affected suffer. The proposed ordinance is a balanced work product in the best interests of the city. Inspections should continue. In particular, inspections should focus on slumlord properties, a term that is defined in law and properties where serious code violations exist. There is no room for us to allow serious code violations. City inspectors have not turned their head the other way, and we believe in a zero tolerance policy. Inspections of known violating properties should continue. The council has heard from tenants and about concerns that they may face eviction due to filing a complaint against an owner. Laws currently exist that protect tenants in these situations. We are reminded that our state anti retaliation laws are explicit and protect those who file a complaint with a city or a property owner. We with me tonight are members of our association. We are Long Beach housing providers. We serve a vital and important element to our community. We stand with you and support a residential rental property ordinance. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening. Vulnerable Vice Mayor Lowenthal and members of the city council. My name is Elaine Hutchison, and I'm here this evening also representing the Apartment Association of California's Southern Cities here in Long Beach. I have twice had the opportunity to serve as president of this association and also of the California Apartment Association and have owned and managed properties in Long Beach for over 30 years. Thank you kindly for this opportunity to express some of our thoughts. We know that you have heard from tenant advocates. We would like to begin by commending the overwhelming 97% of owners of the estimated 77,000 rental units in our city, owners who care for their rental properties as well as the residents who reside in them. As we know from our membership. Most of these are small properties and in many cases its owners struggle to pay all the bills. But these owners do care and often know residents by name. We believe safe and healthful housing is a partnership between owners and residents alike. We believe owners must proactively inspect and take care of maintenance issues in their properties and that tenants should tell owners about maintenance issues that they become aware of. In looking at the proactive rental housing inspection program proposed ordinance before you. We note that every owner of four units or more will have to pay a habitability fee for inspection of properties, not just the minority of bad actors, and that every owner will be required to register their properties. And there are inescapable financial penalties and potentially criminal penalties. These provisions and others fall upon all owners in order to weed out the minority of bad owners. All owners are paying the price. We recognize the responsibility of owners, and just as owners are responsible, we also recognize tenants are responsible to help in maintaining the properties by allowing access for repairs and participating with us. We note that the ordinance continues to allow heavy and code enforcement actions, and as Councilwoman Gonzales has added even more. We wish that there were a provision that if nothing is found on a city inspection of a unit, that the habitability fee would be waived and refund to the owner. We truthfully wish no ordinance would be needed, however, because we are just as tenant advocates want safe and healthful housing for Long Beach tenants. We urge the support and passage of your Honorable Council o the proposed ordinance before you. We hope that the passage of this ordinance, along with a two page document of owner rights and responsibilities and tenant rights and responsibilities, will be the door we can all pass through to greater collaboration and again what we all want safe and healthful housing for all of Long Beach residents. Thank you very much. Thank you. I thank you. Good afternoon. Honorable Vice Mayor and council members Malcolm Bennett. I'm also a member of the Piper Association of California Southern Cities. I've had the opportunity to serve also as president at association. I do own and operate a property management company in Long Beach for probably close to 20 years and myself, along with our staff , really believe we're part of the fabric of this community. I've served on the board of directors of Long Beach Fair Housing Council, served as vice president, was very instrumental in the multifamily improvement district for Andy Street, a just a a stellar project for the city. My manager is on the board of directors of the St Mary's and various other associations. I do own and operate a property management company in Los Angeles where we do have a rental inspection program. And I would start off by saying Long Beach is certainly not like Los Angeles. We are here to support this this program. I've been in the rental property business for more than 40 years. I've been installed and inducted in the Congressional Hall of Records for the work I do in rental housing and been awarded the aggregate of the year through various organizations. One thing I'd like to point out different than people that buy single family homes. You put out 35% to purchase a residential income property. You're looking at putting down 30 or 40%. That's quite an investment. So we have a real incentive to maintain these properties. Are all. Landlords good? Absolutely not. And we support actions to take care of those bad actors who give us a bad reputation. And in addition to this. Ordinance, you always have the complaint driven process where owner tenants can still complain. And we look at this. Some people like to pit landlords against tenants. We're not adversaries. Where would a landlord be without a tenant? We wouldn't be able to maintain a paid a mortgage on these properties. So we have a real incentive and a lot of people don't know as a property owner, you don't really have a right to go in and inspect a unit just to see how a tenant lives. We use the fire marshals ordinance to allow us to go in to inspect smoke detectors and seal devices. So we welcome this inspection program and we fully support it. The amendments that were offered this evening, we certainly are also are those, because those are directed toward property owners who do not take care of their properties. And we have a code of ethics that our association that we try to enforce because we have an investment in the city and I rental property owners. We thank you for your time and we hope that you will support this ordinance. And thank you very much for your time. Hi. Thank you. Vice Mayor and city councilman. My name is Jeff Benedict. My address is on file. I live in the third district. I was for several years. I was the manager of the health housing inspection program in the city of Long Beach. And before that, I spent 30 years when at Orange County in housing and was on many task forces across the city, the county of Orange and I have extensive amount of experience in and regulatory parts of our housing inspection programs. And when I left, I retired from the city in 2008, and when I left, I, I still had some work I wanted to do. And I came back as a volunteer and got a couple of contracts actually to do some work on our health housing inspection program. And I went out and I did a pretty comprehensive survey of the housing because I had some problems with our delivery of how we were doing our housing inspection program. And I spoke to two tenants fair housing, property owners, property managers, etc. And one thing that just came across that that I found was that properties that were managed by property managers actually were across the board in better condition than regular places. But also that our program, our housing inspection program, spent an inordinate amount of time more than necessary on the good guys and on the good on the good places. And when I was trying to redesign our program a little bit, that that came to mind that we really need to concentrate on the bad guys and on the bad inspection programs. When I first heard about this, I initially came with the idea that I wanted to say, no new laws, just do a better job with the tools we already have. You know, as we know, we have the code enforcement, Scott, the citation power, we have reinspection fees. We, we've got a very supportive city prosecutor. I can tell you that I never took a case to a city prosecutor that had some great photos and it was pretty substandard conditions that they didn't jump out and take because these kind of conditions don't don't even actually ever make it to court. They settle out because good pictures, etc., do it every time. So I just don't think that for the lot for a lot of me, my only concern with this program is, is that are we going to start going back and spending all of our time inspecting places that that probably don't need it? And I only thing is, was when we implement this program that we concentrate on the bad guys and do whatever we can to, to, to, to focus in that area. So initially, I was going to come to totally oppose this. But as I stand here now, I think that we just need to to make a very good effort to to to recognize the fact that we need to concentrate on the bad guys and create a way that the program can do a little bit better job of not not doing the comprehensive inspections on the really good places. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, Vice Mayor and City Council Members. My name is Worker Rivera, a community organizer with Housing Long Beach. And we've been coming here for many, many weeks and we've been sharing stories because we've been trying to elevate the discussion around our rental housing issues that we're having here in the city. And as you know, we've been asking for rape, a policy which we believe is a good step towards protecting renters, holding slumlords accountable and building a healthier Long Beach in general. The community's cries for this type of help have received much opposition, including our own city staff and development services. And now they're taking a program that's already existed, giving it a different name in a couple of words, and saying, Hey, this is our alternative to tenants rights policy. How is this attendance rates policy? Please tell me how this protects tenants, because this is nothing different than we had, as you had mentioned then we've had or already had. So this supposedly new program falls way short of what residents really need. It does not include 2 to 3 units, which the LA Times article today highlighted would well have been overlooked. Two years going without running water or gas, this program would have not found that. And that also accounts for 15,000 rental units here in the city. It offers no method of tracking. As this gentleman said, we need to know where we're going, what doors were knocked, where did we get it and where couldn't we get in? It does not protect renters. There's no accountability for slumlords, and it's simply not good enough. All of the stories that we've brought to you are we're trying to communicate that people are scared. People are afraid. I have a resident that's sitting out here who just got knocked down by code enforcement because I called and she will tell you that her neighbors did not open the doors. Why? Because they're too scared. It's not because they we they don't want to be inspected is because they're scared of what's going to happen if they do get inspected. How does this program protect them from that? How does it protect them from eviction or rent increases? Yes, they're state laws. But you're going to hear from our attorney that this is not going to protect them when they go to eviction court. They're going to settle out and they still have to move. What if they have children? What if they're low income? What if they don't have the funds to move? How is it going to account for that? It's not going to count for that. So this. Program. Although we do need more inspections, I would not call this a proactive inspection program because it's reactive and it's going to rely on people to complain, as the other gentleman here said, that it would. And if these are all good landlords here, they don't have to worry about this. They're good landlords. You don't have to worry about what goes after the slumlords. So you shouldn't be opposing any of this stuff. We need to protect our renters. We need more code enforcement policy. We mean more tenants rights. And this one here is not good enough. We need more tenant rights. Thank you. Vice Mayor Kelton members. I lived at 1221, East First Street, apartment number ten. Lived there for five years. When I moved in this apartment. The roof was leaking. We had cockroaches and from the roof leaking the mold in the walls. I had code enforcement out four times. Every time they try it, they write out the correct wording on the document to be cited when they would come back to get these corrections done. All the landlord would do was go in and spray the walls, paint over it. When they were told to take the wall out and get rid of the mold, bomb the building for the cockroaches, all they do is bond my apartment, which they just run away and come back. When code enforcement came back. All they said was can't see the mold. They must have done a good job. I've been evicted there for 35 days now. My wife and I are both homeless. I have been. I've had cancer since 92. I'm a cancer survivor since 92, 2002. I was put on disability because of the cancer. Now my spine has arthritis and my wife is 71 with Alzheimer's. This is this is a hard thing for both of us to go through. I had since I lived in that apartment. Half my life was taken out. And in the biopsy, yeast was found from mold. My wife's esophagus was eaten up from the mold since we left. It has correct. It is correcting itself. It has gotten better. But yet we lived in in a motel here in Long Beach. Again with the cockroaches and again with the Morgan Motel. But I'm here to ask this program. Give us tenants some rights. I've been evicted. I had nowhere to go. No one to talk to. The the discrimination. From code enforcement from the landlord of the adult abuse by moving us in their. The handicapped abused, moving us in there knowing that all these problems were going on and then having us evicted. When you tenants need some, right? Thank you. They bring vice mayor and council people. I took off my sign so you could see my my crest, my family crest when you know I'm Irish. I've been living in Long Beach since 1952 at a time when I was renting a garage apartment furnished for $50 a month. Now I'm living on the east side. Mr. Soberano is district or excuse me, and my rent now is 1220 $5. I recently received this notice from my landlord, made every effort to control expenses, hold your rent minimum. However, increasing costs associated with general maintenance. There's been no maintenance. I had the same carpet in my house that I had when I moved in and it wasn't new at the time and that I asked the landlord to please do something about the call up. And he says, Well, if I do that, I'll have to raise your rent. But you've raised my rent. And if you look at this, he's crossed out things. He doesn't want to spend the money to get a new notice. And the other notice that he crossed out was some them from the year 2000 when the rent was $1,000. Now it's 1220 $5. We need some help. And he came to me and I. I refused to pay the $75 that he was requesting. He told me, Well, then I'll have to respect you. And I said, No, you won't have to reject me. But that when we went round and round and I agreed to a $50 increase, which because my daughter, who was very disabled, was very concerned, and it was that it was causing her a lot of problems. Now, I watched. Well, what what is the solution to this problem? And this is well, there are a number of people that we know have not been able to, you know, get proper food and other things because the cost of the rents are so high, so much of their their income my income is from I'm a disabled veteran and I get a pension. And that's that's where my money comes from. And this man wants who is a millionaire living in Bellevue, Washington, wants another $75 just because he can get it. And he can get it because it's it's it's it's it's it. He can do it because there's no law preventing him. I consider this to be extortion. He is extorting me. And then I consider this also elder abuse. I want you to protect me and do something to help all the renters in Long Beach. Sir. Actually. When I started, senora, spell check you miembros consiglio mi nombre. Eric Instead of A.C., We wanted this day to own it. Amy So an apostle in the event that Tracy went out to Tracy, then going to Cinco Annual, we been talking on beef and I mean what Distrito Tengo Cinco de who's e-mails between Aqui También. Yes, the aunque your nope. With all that a year on, we had tables in it. Good evening, Mrs. Suja and council members. My name is Raquel Cervantes and I live in District one. And my zip code is 90813. I've been living in Long Beach for 25 years in the same district. I have five children that live here in Long Beach. And even though I'm unable to vote, they do vote and they are very. Active. Participant as in course, was the leader as well in the group was there with that he like Leyzaola we've seen that thing on Manzano Shindo they let the house in Long Beach. Estoy aqui porque go. No scholars, no city. That is a los Angelinos forget your soil, you know they use mbt cinco anos man this aloha cuatro basis for capital preparation. This dollar is more you being guerrillas. The thing Morella Siamo Bianco lose money have orders Ortiz Wendell told us stabbing me no below reparations cannot be reparations I you sir Kavala relation. I participate and I attend leadership courses in groups like Best Start and the Neighborhood Church. I've been a leader with housing language for more than six years. I'm here because I know the needs of the renters because I'm one of them. In the 25 years that I've been living here, I've been evicted four times because I've asked for repairs. Everything's fine and the relationships with the managers are very good. As long as one does not complain. When one asks for repairs, everything goes downhill. And as companions, Grant doesn't love companions I didn't know say as in cargo the LA reparations. Guess he'll go back last persona must have it that a son Los Ninos de la comunidad para los padrino pinto recuerdos para los mis. I see that is the use is también though improper that is destroying us you it they Rattansi Karachi Hussein is in who's talking your personal mantra estoy pasando también. Also the large companies don't take charge of repairs that are needed. The people that are most affected are the children in our community because their parents don't have the resources for their needs. They're living in properties that have been destroyed and they're infested with mice and cockroaches. It's unfair, and I personally am living through this. Lack of money that the animal shall meddle. You know, is that noise that brought the heat or not the any me the name mucho miedo they had there are losses bit stories porky soon this aloha those boring will look at alas you that. The community is very afraid we're not protected. We're afraid to let the inspectors in because after that we are evicted for involving the city. You're still on beef, pork, your quiero third party de la but yet bara balearic follows the rituals the Los Angeles knows is important. They they is that through this post program ask one month they near Otra no faith is. I got involved with housing Long Beach because I want to be part of the battle to fight for the renters rights. It's important to talk about this problem because in one way or another it affects all of us. Openly and all to improve the hablar para porque all state is necessity and really saki is then. Ascendant leadership rotation allows in killing of poor killers. Let's get the normal. No, no siren. And I'm here taking the time to speak because it's important that you realize that you are here making laws for us and we need things that will support us. A plan this imprecision noise sufficient to get it most mass, get it most cap or generate. The inspection plan isn't enough. We need protection. We'd like you to support RIP. Thank you. Thank you. Evening. Vice. Vice Mayor and. The rest of the City Council. My name is Cortez Arantes. I live in 1242 Cedar. Avenue, which is in the first District. I'm 20 years old. I'm in Long Beach is where I was born and raised. I am a Kurdistan student and on Big City College. But I'm also a really active voter and I've been a member of housing lobbies for for six years. I'm here today because I'm against this inspection program. And here's the reasons why this special program has been has been existing for more than. For many years already. There's just this program used to be called Healthy Homes. City council knows it, and it's obvious that our community knows it. This program hasn't been working because tenants are afraid because of the lack of protection. And as I was growing up in Long Beach, my parents had been. Renting all my life. And it seems. Like the roaches and mice have better protection than I do. So. So instead of investing. In an inspector that's only going to lock on, knock on locked doors, that never going to be open because tenants are afraid. I wish for you guys to. Invest in trust. And protection. Thank you. Thank you. Olav when I start this tells me no worries. Lillia Fuentes No. We want a lottery tournament. All those are all 20. So you want Lombardia and Los Primeros for Feist. Good. Hello and good evening to everybody. My name is Celia Fuentes and I live presently in District two and a volunteer at first five. And eight a minute, hustle, ambush. And all to housing Long Beach. Is there a key Stoiber thing or mutuals? Bain, Daniel, mother, Daniel's baby in the nest as we then there's the Andersons the latterly the Estamos so for in the law allows means by Consequentials Nos ultra low rent areas. There's Qatar I there is in the central zone you'll see not participating but the key Pakistan to anarchy. I've been here for many years. I've lived in the city for more than 20 years. And before that, up until now, we've been suffering the same consequences as renters. The owners say if you don't like it, leave, leave. Why are you renting here? Go away. Parents are given up instead of not being sold on cocaine or sulfate. The La economia board trabajo and I rattle through the apartamento address La Scala, Centro seahorse, la la la casa. And can we important there is our adult I mean pardon me, forget our law, my espanol and English, particularly the property that allows us deals are me seahorse, Kenya, Mimi SMA Beatles Toyi Estoy Estelle or an opera but Balenciaga la sitwasyon economic social demi sequels but good. And they don't stop to think for a moment how we're affected by the economy, by work trying to get another apartment our children's schools because education is very important and even for me because presently I do speak more Spanish than English, because I make my children and a priority more than myself. So I'm fighting to balance things. The situation, the social situation of my kids. Are they still me? Me hotel stays unsold all alone. A thousand needles, the key. Alejandro In spite of that, my son Alejandro is a US soldier. You know, it's possible in a book Real gay. Gay me. Who is the and the parakeet the all those things almost killed me know that HLA moment protection he we in Newcastle mean of our media as west post us all yeah. Yeah. Nosotros nonresidential status. And I it's not possible. I can't believe that my son is working so that we can all have the same rights and the protection. His wife, his daughter. But you all don't give it to us. I mean me because the Parliament decides to. The Animal Coalition. Let me see. The colors. Is. More yellow professional. Yeah, but there are certain things to the minister. Sovereign. The law laws minimize consequences for gay porn lot. The leader in post has to say no, no son, the Mandelas cartels, they are local. It's. I said, that is what this community is based on. And my daughter currently is studying in the college. She's at Long Beach City College. She's a professional model and she's going to be a dentist. But she also is suffering the same consequences. In fact, in the last two years, we've got an eviction letters of 60 days or 30 days, like ten times or. So programa gay or status proponent noise la solution mosque estamos pasando nosotros como and Thaddeus. So the program that you all are proposing is not a solution to the problems that we have as renters. E eliska liz cato the syria key story but silky grasses poor trattati solution l'opération or la solution he can stumble mass malaise as it como el proyecto they get the inherit list be local told in Cologne listen equally la they know no portal neither Barack Bianco Mr. Trabalhando NutraSweet this e equals that I won't dialog percent eating almost eating almost as a privilege you get scared the animals, the literature. Mama knows that baby mama knows grasses. And I want to say and I'm here to say, first of all, thank you for trying to solve this problem, but this is not the solution. We want laws like rape. So I am asking that you study it, that you analyze it and take the chance to see how it is working in other cities. And perhaps one day it will pass and we'll have the privilege to live as humans with the rights of humans. Thank you. Thank. Thank you. Before I take the next speaker, I need to take Mr. Rockwell, who's cute up from the top. Do you have a mic, Mr. Rockwell? I'm not putting it off. Good evening. Thank you. Can you hear me down there? Yes. Okay. I would like to say that while we have some assisted housing in this city, there is nowhere near sufficient housing. There is no where near sufficient housing for persons who are wheelchair users at any cost, whether it be affordable or not affordable. I see people in wheelchairs, out on the streets, blocking areas that should be passable at all times of the day and night. I see persons out on the street who need housing but can't afford it because of the lack of good, proper, affordable housing. Our city is really down the tubes when it comes to having suppression housing for low income workers, those that are working for minimum wage, or sometimes a little bit more than minimum wage persons who are making a thousand or 1500 dollars a month cannot afford to live in Long Beach the way our housing has been set up , a housing that is going up at this time, most of it is running anywhere from 1400 to 2500 or more a month. A person on minimum wage cannot afford that. A person on Social Security or SSI cannot afford that. But yeah, we need to continue living. We cannot afford to move. Many of us are do not have the energies to be able to move from our housing. So, Madam Mayor. Vice Mayor. Council members, please consider the needs of all these people, but are appealing to you and keep things such that we can have decent, affordable housing that is going to be sufficient to be able to live in comfortably and properly. Thank you. Thank you. When I start this, members will continue. Number 13, I want to be one in the street. Elumelu knows a thing or two to see how we been doing it. Good evening, council members. My name is Georgina Goldson and I live in District two. I've been living in Long Beach for 13 years. A Participar co-owner of Grupo de Lava Con, the group of 18, the Scream Clinic continues in action. Yes, it was the annual humanitarian group Latino Girl Senior Center Bella Cuatro Ella McCauley about. I participate in the group's LA off with the group children's clinic with the Latinos in action. And it's been 12 years since I've been a volunteer with the Latino Club at the Senior Center on Fourth Street. And they're the majority of people vote. Can you get us email address, A.L.S. Association, the Captain Lomis Medical Center, your system? I wonder what protections are la comunidad. But I'm honest and to really look at the animals in Bebe. When I got to the association that is housing Long Beach more than three years ago, I realized that they have been fighting for protections for the community to better the conditions that are so terrible that we live in. But is it going to look rather be working? Methadone rescues to El Programa de inspection proponent La Ciudad no suficiente no protocol in clean las inspection is not Syrian. And that's why I still am involved. Living in fear isn't fair. The inspection program that the city is proposing is not enough. It does not it does not protect the renter. The inspections are useless. But what is a criminal substrate is Yukiko Canal Program and Rip City and Rams protection of medicine and make sure this condition is withstood this desperate. And I said it is it can be but they must protect program. Thank you. And that is why we have come before all of you so that with this program that is reap there we would have protections. Our children deserve to live in better conditions. You all can make this change. Let's vote for the program that is reap. Thank you. Thank you. Thank. When I start this, Senora Suya. Stands. Gloria mendoza. Olga. When I started, said Todos, I can present this. Good evening. Suya. My name is. Gloria Montes, the. Oka. And good evening to everybody that's here. Do you want. And last one. anO métodos. Listen up. That is my visitor or home address. I live in District two and my zip code is 90813. It was big, memorable moment of your career. Now, narcos, your record, your it. It is it. The lesson of general medical school. And I tell you, number my number, because once I said two numbers together and they said the two numbers don't go together, it's number by number. Thank you. Thank you. Then go quarantine. You say machine. Maybe in dark in Long Beach. Then go to CBS. You. Vegas is to get on a Navy display. The tide is the highest. Good. So do we want to just give you tomato soup? That is so good. Korean potato may not be huge. We love romance music. I said you welcome me as possible, your bottom of calories. And as I said, I've been living. Here in Long Beach for 40 years. Can you all imagine that? I have three daughters and two of them were in the Navy after high school. They signed up and we had to sign for them because they were under 18. And we did sign. And they know that my husband and I vote every time that we can. Just volunteer for music. Is there anything else in your sentence and different deliveries? It can go on one house in Long Beach. Unforgettable assignment. I've been a volunteer for more than. 15 years in the senior center, and I've been a leader with Housing Long Beach for a bit more than three years. The middle this year, Daniels and Long Beach commu Camille Berman in which was pro lemon so much coastal is still not good apparently. See the first 17. Years in Long Beach we lived in fear and many, many problems. That is not fair and I don't want that for my daughters. It a program young everyone I lost you the noise would be silent. No protection, nothing. Lena's mom was my guitar in middle the report that I was wounded potato. But then in the central apartment. The inspection program that the city is proposing isn't enough. It doesn't protect the tenants. It's not going to take away our fear of reporting something that's wrong with our apartments. Senora Year, I remember you when you. I'm sorry. That's okay. This went off. We are all at senior center. This is how you see a little grass? Yes. Get all this year. Lazaro said you have to move members like you present this ghetto, those little Latino Maoris. Then I said today they would not work remotely nosotros my daughter's school homeowners. It was really shameless and suja. I would like to say you came several times at the senior center, and I'd like to say thank you for that. And I'd like to tell you and everybody here that the seniors, the older people we like to vote because we want to choose who represents us. In program are there is endemic corruption get them of mass protection but I don't think enough people I mean see could even I think. The program rip is our best option. We want more protection for the tenants. Also for my daughters who live here. Is but I'm not going to support you. And we hope. We hope that you support us. Thank you very much. Thank you. My name is Jennifer Wiseman. I'm the tenant attorney at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles in our Long Beach office. I am the only pro-bono tenant attorney in all of Long Beach without an attorney. A tenant is almost certain to lose at trial in an eviction case. And if a tenant loses at trial, the eviction will be on their credit record for ten years and is subject to renewal. This makes it near impossible to rent a safe apartment. The system isn't working for our Long Beach renters, as you have heard from other speakers this evening and in today's L.A. Times article, retaliation against tenants is real and it is happening. Every week. I counsel families who are being evicted from their homes after reporting substandard living conditions to their landlords and to code enforcement. The proactive rental housing inspection program or prep, as Ms.. Reynolds referred to it, does not address this key problem because it offers zero protections for tenants, even with prep retaliation will continue to occur. It is good that the city is codifying its inspection procedures, but this must mark the beginning of a conversation about improving the health and safety of rental housing in this city. Slumlords will continue to evade the city. The city's efforts if tenants are too scared to open doors for inspectors or to call code enforcement because they fear a retaliatory eviction. I believe that the city can do more both to protect tenants and to hold each and every slumlord accountable. And if the city wanted the code enforcement process to work, the city must do more to make tenants trust that they can work with code enforcement to fix their living conditions and not get evicted. This is vitally important because the only ways to get repairs under state law actually create an environment where retaliation is likely to occur . Option one under state law is to withhold the rent. Many tenants withhold rent because this is the state sanctioned way of getting the landlord to make repairs. Option number two under state law is to make the repairs and deduct the cost from rent. Both of these options result in the landlord receiving less than the full amount of rent, which then result in the landlord often retaliating against the tenant with an eviction. The system isn't working for Long Beach renters. A RIP ordinance would protect tenants from retaliation because it would create a safe harbor for tenants who complain about substandard living conditions. Current state law protections are very flimsy. Prep does not address any of these issues. More is needed to protect tenants who have done nothing wrong, wanted to live in safe housing and now have no home. We should not be a city where slumlords can continue bullying tenants and evading the city's code enforcement efforts. We need a system that works for Long Beach renters. Thank you. Good evening, Madam Vice. Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Josh Butler and I'm the executive. Director for Housing Long Beach, and I thank you for discussing. This serious matter tonight. While it has been expressed by many people here tonight that the proposed ordinance falls short. We are encouraged to know that some council members feel the same way and housing Long Beach would encourage you. Housing Long Beach agrees. That this measure falls short. Homeowners and renters agree with us. Businesses and our partner organizations agree with us because. They endorsed a reef ordinance that doesn't let slumlords off the hook. This ordinance lets slumlords off the hook. Long Beach doesn't look good by having slumlords. But we look worse. For not. Doing anything about it. And it's shocking to me that so many people I here tonight that don't want to see us do anything, that want to let slumlords off the hook. I don't think that there are members of the department. I hope they're not members of the apartment association that are currently operating. As slumlords in the city. If they are. I hope they are expelled from that organization. People are recognizing, as we saw on the L.A. Times, people outside of Long Beach are starting to recognize that we have irresponsible landlords and we have people recognizing that we don't have enough tools in the toolbox to address those landlords. I would strongly encourage you to support Councilmember Gonzalez's. Amendments tonight. To strengthen this ordinance, because this is a start. As was the theme at last week's People say to the city that I know many of you were able to attend. We've come a long way, but we still have a very long way to go here. We have to recognize that we have people who are afraid to speak out about their living conditions for fear of reprisal. We have to recognize that we have good property owners like the ones who have endorsed our ordinance. But we also have to recognize that we have bad actors who continue to operate without regard for the. Health and safety of their tenants. As the new executive director of Housing Long Beach. I look forward to working with the community and our brave leaders to take on slumlords. And if we have to take on that fire directly into the streets, we will. We're prepared to. If the city is not prepared to assist us in our fight, we'll do it ourselves and we will lift our neighbors out of their despair because people don't deserve to live a fecal matter. non-Working facilities. Rats, mice. And we think the. Council members have taken the. Time to come out and see those conditions. And we strongly encourage you tonight to take measures to strengthen the rights of renters in the city of Long Beach. Thank you very much. Thank you, Josh. Good evening. First and foremost, I'd like to say thank you for your patience and hearing each of our individual stories. My name is Misty Cromwell. It's my first time here, and this is pretty much impromptu. However, it's very real. I could be your sister, your niece, your cousin, your coworker, your neighbor. In any event, I reside nearly elementary school. I am currently in the background for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. However, I do reside under the nonprofit corporation in partnership with the Multi-Service Center that due to their wrongful evictions and I say evictions, plural against me, I may have to withdraw. No candidate for the sheriff's department may be a part of any civil litigation. If I withdraw, it would make me have to postpone for one or two years. I'm 40 years old. I live with my partner and three year old Anita, our grandbaby. And it'd probably be a once in a lifetime opportunity that I would have to withdraw from the first eviction that they filed. Judgment was rendered in our favor due to uninhabitable, severe roach infestation, among other things, in which the Honorable Peter marriage did rule in our favor and reduced the rent 20%. At that time, we did render approximately $6,500 to the plaintiffs. On March 17th, St Patrick's Day, our granddaughter's birthday. However, on that same date, again, wrongfully and illegally, the plaintiff and the plaintiffs attorneys did document an additional three day notice to evict, claiming I owed a subsequent $800, which is false. There is no way I will render nearly $7,000. Take funds from my 401k to not pay $800. Their their complaints have no validity whatsoever. I'm trying to keep it. And with due time, my partner is 15 years. Her mother does own property. Therefore, we know what it takes and what can be good. These people are operating in no way under good faith. They are receiving federal exemptions, grants and subsidies to which if you're lacking the $75,000, you should unwind that deal with them and you'd have your money right there. And lastly, I would like to just state, among other things, are hearing is for the fifth and I was told if the civil litigation proceeds past the fifth, I would have to withdraw myself. And that's this Friday. The plaintiff's attorney did tell me that no matter how much money we do render and regardless of what the judgment is, they will file an additional subsequent 30 day notice against myself pursuing an additional eviction and credit judgment on myself, which will indefinitely make me ineligible for the Sheriff's Department that I've worked so hard for. A lasting and probably most appalling to you at the moment. Our three year old granddaughter is unable to take a bath currently because the hot water in the bathtub continues to run so scalding hot that we cannot put her in there. She's a brilliant young girl. Excuse me, Miss Thomas. Arch it. Time is out. Thank you very much. Could you do? My name is Hollis Stewart. I live at 115 West Fourth Street, also known as the Walker Building. I'm an owner of a loft there, and I'm speaking as a homeowner then, not as a tenant and not as a landlord, but as someone talking about justice in our society and the need for housing in a way where people can be able to have the decency and an honorable place to live so their children can grow up and go to the same school year after year, so that they can develop neighborhoods and community, so that they could turn out as really good children. And since I live in the First District or because I, I appreciate my my Representative Lena Gonzales and her work on this, and I do support those kind of amendments she's brought in, perhaps in the future that life should be looked at. But I think as a council, you have to really look at what is good for all at Long Beach. And that means having a city in which all the people can grow and flourish and feel like this is their place, you know, in the universe, this is their place in America. This is a place where they can live in democracy and with justice so that they, in fact, don't try and get their rights through tenants rights and then get evicted and and punished in some way so that they, in fact, cannot walk with their head up high and in happiness and where they have to worry about their children, perhaps getting more disease and things like that and when buildings aren't taken care of. And I agree the good landlords don't do that. But there are many landlords unfortunately, who are in it for the dollar, not just to be a service. And of course they all want to make a living from it. I mean, and we all do that in our work. But there's a difference between that and being very mercenary about it and trying to take away from the people that you are serving in order to serve yourself and only looking at your own needs. But when we look at community, as I said, we want stable neighborhoods where I live in the First District. I want that to be a stable area. When I walk over to the Cesar Chavez Center in the afternoon, in the mornings, I like walking through my neighborhood and I and I like feeling when I talk to people and say, hi, how are you doing? That they speak back and they feel with some confidence and I want to make sure that everyone can feel that way so that where I get as I'm getting old while I'm already old, I'm 75 years old. But as I get older in Long Beach, I want to continue to feel that I'm part of a community that is there for all the people tenants, homeowners, landlords, everyone, and that we can all live with pride in what we're doing. And I think this ordinance up here will help in this program. But I think that perhaps the relief program is a step you ought to look at in the future, because it is a problem for tenants. And I've been a tenant, too, by the way. I was only a loft owner recently and a homeowner recently, but before I've been a tenant and it can be very scary. I've also managed apartment buildings right here in Long Beach, and I did, I think, an admirable job. But I talked to other apartment owners and other apartment managers who much didn't care about the tenants. So thank you very much. Just do the right thing here and let's make this a really good city for everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, Vice Mayor. Council members. My name is Mike Murchison. I'm here on behalf of the Apartment Association. I want to welcome George Butler back to the City Fold. Josh, it's been a while and I think for the first time one of the few times Josh and I are pretty much on the same page. I say that because neither one of us supports slumlords. The Apartment Association doesn't support slumlords housing, Long Beach doesn't support slumlords. I want that to be crystal clear. I also want to be crystal clear that there's been a lot of articles by our local media that have not fairly characterized everything on behalf of the apartment association. They've mentioned these landlords to you all. None of the people that were indicated in those articles that are landlords are members of the apartment association. None of them. The Apartment Association's been around for a very long time. They do very good work. They do an awful lot of outreach. They're trying to figure out the best way possible to support the tenants. Yes, this ordinance is something that we support. Yes, we do support. Lena's first three parts of her motion. I'm looking forward to the rest of her motions. I'm sure it's coming here in a couple of minutes. There are a couple. Of areas I want to call attention to. We support the outreach programs. We support measures that the council will like to take against landlords that are over. 120 days late. We want to give you, as Josh referenced, more tools in the toolbox. We support collecting empirical data. We want you also to have city staff to have that data so they can present it to. You, present to all of us. We know what's going on. We do believe that there's any discussion of increasing fees. It should be referred to the housing committee. I can't say that. Stronger finally. And I think where we're all at is we believe that for lobbies to succeed, for landlords and tenants to work together, we need to continue to communicate. So I look forward to talking with Josh in the future. I look forward to hearing from all of you. And I believe that the apartment association has made every effort to. Come forward to you folks and say, hey, what can we do to support you? We look forward to being part of that solution. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, Vice Mayor. Council members. Staff and my neighbors. Well, once my neighbors. My name is Vanessa Davis, and I've addressed you guys before. But let me refresh you on my story. I was asked to leave my apartment when I when I went through all the proper channels I was supposed to. I talked to my landlord verbally. I then decided to only do it. Written emails only told him he could not contact me over the phone. And after I've been fed up for a year, I called code enforcement. They came through. They made documentations. They cited him. Then I was issued a rent increase. 30 day notice. 60 day notice. He even came to me and asked me, did you call the code enforcement on me? Yes, I did. So he intimidated me in front of my face in my home. After that. I got the grand eviction notice. Yeah, I won because it was dropped once I came in with my stack of papers from the coat inspection, but I still had to move because I couldn't fight the 60 day notice. Did you know that landlords can give you a 60 day notice for no reason at all and you have to move. You cannot question it and you cannot fight it. So you say that we have these regulations for anti retaliation, but when the landlord is saying, Oh, it's not because she called code enforcement, then what leg do I have to stand on? Do you know that I had to go to court myself. I had to file a small. Claims and go to Downey and go in front of a courtroom. Would a judge they had nothing to do with Long Beach. He knew nothing about Long Beach. And who won? The landlord did. So why am I not a neighbor of you guys? Because I became homeless. I had to live in my car. I lived in my car for 19 months. And I love this city. I've been here for 12 years. I graduated the Neighborhood Leadership Program. I volunteered in so many ways in this city. I clean up the beach. I plant trees. And you guys have felt me. This program. Please show me, Rip. Good evening, Vice Vice Mayor. Council members and everyone in this room. My name is Miguel Angel Romero. I have attended Garfield Elementary Stephens Middle School and Milliken High School. I have over 100 family members currently living in City of Long Beach, where the WHO are both tenants and owners. I've been in the property management industry for 13 years. I assist with managing property in L.A. County, which include properties in Long Beach. I'm a professional property management professional. I am. I'm certified by the California Association of Realtors. And if I may ask. Define slumlord. Is it the landlord who refuses to change the light bulb, or is it the landlord who refuses to fix a broken toilet? Or is it the landlord who was tired of fixing tenant cost damages? I would ask the council to define slumlord and where its tenants can relate and pass it on to the tenants of this great city so they can be protected. Now I ask who is going to protect the property owners from slum tenants? Question Please define and provide property owners with a definition so they know and they also that they are also protected. We should put an end to this tenant versus owner mentality. It takes an effort of all sides to make it happen. We need to assist owners and tenants to come together and work together. I support this inspection bill, Henry Ford said. Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together exists. Thank you. I met the mayor, vice mayor, councilmembers again to Gary Shelton. You know, let's let's stipulate that. Renters. I mean, the landlords association, the Apartment Owners Association doesn't have slumlords in its membership or that if it does, they're not welcome there. We can stipulate that. I think we're talking about a whole different crowd of folks. Let's also look at what was in the staff report in the year 1966, 59 years ago. Now, 49 years ago, let's say 50 years ago, this was an issue that the city council acted on then. And I bet it wasn't suddenly in front of them. I bet it took a long time before they finally took action then. And here we are 50 years later, talking about the same thing. I would ask you, how many more stories do you have to hear before you start to put some teeth in what these people are asking you to do? It has baby teeth in it, but you need teeth in there that will gnaw on these landlords and force them into compliance. And you've got the chance to do it, but not with what the staff has brought you here tonight. What housing Long Beach has been talking about for some time is the REAP program and don't be confused with the P rip thing because that doesn't have teeth. I was on the board of Housing in Long Beach for a number of years. I've had to do other things since then. I'm a proud member of my community right here in the First District. I guess we're in the second district here. But right outside those windows, you know. And. I think you're going to be hearing one more story. I think there's one more person in line behind me. Maybe that will be the tipping point. For each of you to say, you know, this is not the ordinance we need to pass tonight. I appreciate that the council member from the first District has tried to put some extra safeguards in there. With all due respect. It's not enough. Thank you. Hello. My name is Malcolm Armstrong. I'm a landlord here in Long Beach. I owned 24 units, and I think it's perfectly fine. The thing that has been suggested by staff. But I do ask you not to get into our business. You know, when you buy 24 units in Long Beach today, you can pay approximately $4 million and up. So the investor the landlord is putting in 25%, at least of that, you can't get a loan for more than 75%. So if you buy a building for 4 million, you're putting in $1 million. Now, I would suggest to you that any sensible person is going to try and protect that $1 million that has been invested. And 99.9% of landlords do exactly that. Quite apart from the fact that most of us are ethical and take pride in presenting people with nice living quarters, it's in our interest to keep our properties in good condition. So yes, do have more penalties for those very few .00 7% of landlords in Long Beach who simply do not correct the bad conditions. Please do not start getting into a financial thing by telling tenants that they can pay a lower rent because conditions are this. You're going to have all the bad tenants in the city calling you up, requesting lower rent, and blaming landlords for the conditions they create. You know, we very often rehabilitate a unit, put in new carpet, fresh paint upgrades all over the place. And if we get a bad tenant in 3 to 6 months, that place looks like something down on the Los Angeles River. So, you know, there is another side to this. And I've been a renter for most of my life. I know very well that that things can be tough for renters. But please don't get into having the money into the city and you know what's going to happen. You're going to have a big bureaucracy attached to this and the money that the rent is going to put money in less than their regular rent. The administrative costs are going to be eating that money up like mad. What little comes back to the landlord in those circumstances? They're not going to be able to pay their mortgage, the taxes, their insurance, their utilities, their maintenance, their repairs, etc., etc.. So it's really important to let us carry on doing it. Thank you. We went on notice, he told me, Nebraska, hear me now on this. Good evening to everybody. My name is Gear Mina Fernandez. You'll be well-known. Edificio Apartamento, Yola. Not if you can. My yet another look at Mazara. Not any more magnate property. And I live in a building with eight apartments. I notify the manager of everything that happens there, but it's only on the phone. We don't have a manager there. Which advisor? List? Vega Manuel. Manager. The Los Problemas Italo? Yes. The American. The Merry, the repent, amigo. Karnataka, the like. Notification this. Isn't that the paradise? Aloha. And then many times when I was calling the manager and suddenly the manager showed up with a 60 day eviction notice. Your lady has Jonas as he took away and cannot take care of me. Apartamento. You must help me. They must be a job. Then go sing on your side. Better you'll be below. Sign your congrats. And I said I need you to check on the apartment. Not just my apartment, but all of them. I've been there for five years, but I lived with rats for two years. But in this list we amando Mira. I regret, said Mimi trabajo. The rector really meant Contreras Autonomy. Casals, la rosa. A lot of my. Quigley And sometimes I would call and I would say, look, I came home from work in Victorville and I found a mouse and it smells and he took it as a joke. You American. The Tuscan premier salamander. Mr. Armando can I says it's almost impersonal, I wonder. Recklessness as it almost robotic. The lava suddenly says it impairment. Larry Fazio, do you say I'm at the unless cancel. And then one time he called me and said, look, you always need us to be cleaning, cleaning the laundry room, trash cans, you need us to clean up. And I'm sick of it. Young lady, pick up your thing. I think I most animals that I told I can also trust our most honest renter estara most stubborn with background on restaurant that all us Nussbaum was viviendo gratis eat ghetto necessity necesitamos we appear to be in 4k ninos. And I said The reason I'm calling is because we all have the right. We pay we pay rent there, all of us. We're not living there for free and we need to live in a good place. There are children. When the Ebola cartel closes. Entry as animal entry. Why me? No, Malala. Hawaii, the brother in law. And when he brought me the 60 day notice, he didn't even give it to me. He just left it there. Thrown on the floor. Eva Ugandan touch. Hillary Holy baby says hi la senora literature. Nagasaki. Yes. Yeah. And there was a girl coming. He said, you let the lady know there's a letter there. That way she knows. I'm coming this holiday. Not even you. Nagata Specific El Motivo Simplemente el medico mpg rental losses Antalya. There was a this girl Apartamento. And he never told me the reason. It doesn't say a reason in the letter he just said You're going to pay me rent for 60 days and then I want the apartment. You met your Lady Hickey. You'll Necessita I'm not going to go anywhere. That poor will not see another Emery No, I stay. L No, I'll get it. Apartamento Apartamento low person autonomously allocated Rio de Janeiro la canal regional not in as a Rachel, not goodness, not out to go work on the loan. You and I said I want to talk to the owner because you don't do anything. And he said, no, he just wants your apartment. And I said, Why there, let me talk to him. And he said, no, you don't have a right to talk to him up. Were able scaling up a la fondation la in Dallas tonight. Yolanda and I looked for help. I went to the neighborhood foundations and they're helping me yesterday. What are your keys? He rekindles his kitchen atlas. Personal photos, estamos noi Samuel Viviendo gratis estamos bargains on the you see him on the Rachel's Common Cleaners. And tonight, I want you to hear from all of us. We're not living for free. We pay rent and we demand rights as renters. Apathetic and or strengthen apartheid can also rattle must not noise then on the masses, not in and not in an motivos por corcoran on the mass Pakistan almost sexy Hindu and also Wrigley. And besides arenas badly they don't even have to have reasons it's they're just doing it because we're demanding that they. Fix things. In which all the laws the laws Senators Carrington Taylor, Lauren Terrell at a munich C no less baguette por Qatar. Qatar, Caracas, Eliasson arsenal regular ace getting less per game. And many of those that rent to us, they demand that one pays when something is. Fixed by ECOMOG union dollars. And I'm telling you that because I already paid like $500. S.A.T.s, he he must get a handle. So I get this and I'll see you there. You see, Ramos had then it connected to Saddam, which had recently televised, must argue almost and also escalating. And tonight I'm here demanding and asking that you hear us and help us. If we have to come back and come back, we will until you do hear us. Get us. Yes. Thank you. I'd like to I'd like to thank all the speakers that came forward. And prior to calling council members from the Q, I wanted to call on Council Member Councilwoman Gonzalez to perhaps make a couple of clarifying statements. I think everybody for their comments. I think it's you know, we've certainly heard you loud and clear. We understand where you're coming from. I certainly do. And it's it's just good to have this discussion and to to shed light a little bit more so on on what you're dealing with every single day. I have to. Just wanted to ask a couple of questions of our staff. So I had two men. I had requested an amendment for the State Franchise Tax Board program. Can you clarify that? So everyone understands what that means for us as far as including that in the ordinance? Certainly when we submitted some information to the City Council as part of the two from four and as part of the housing element, we had heard about the State Franchise Tax Board Housing Program. It is a program that allows state and local agencies the ability to issue determinations that a property is substandard, and this determination actually disallows income tax deductions for rental units that are determined to be substandard. And so this program, if we are to implement that as part of this ordinance, we would be after the 120 day period. There is an appeal period as well within the city. There would be a hearing board, which would probably be the Board of Examiners Appeals and condemnations, which already exists to deal with building code violations. Once the appeals process has run its course, we have the ability to submit the address and of the offending location to this program. And the state actually withholds any income tax deductions that that property owner gets as running that for a business. They are not allowed to to apply for the income tax deductions until the program. They are released from their program and they don't get released from the program until the local agency designates that they're in compliance. So there are some significant penalties to rental property owners who are taking income tax deductions on their rental properties. Okay. And then I also had mentioned the Third Amendment was the increasing the frequency after 30 days and also potentially accelerating the case to the prosecutor's office if it is a life and imminent danger to health and safety. Can you go over that a little bit more? As certainly it looks like I laid out a process as I understood it, in order for us to get to the hundred and 20 days before we can submit to the State Franchise Tax Board. But we have had previous conversations recently with the city prosecutor who has indicated a willingness that there if there is a an egregious property that is truly life threatening, that he would begin prosecution concurrently with any of our citation process. So it would be a concurrent process. We would not have to wait for the 30 days to be over before we started our citations. If we felt, based on the expertize of our building inspectors, that it was a life safety issue, it could immediately be turned over to the prosecutor's office and they would be willing to to consider that case. Can you give me some examples of what that would be? What would a life for, you know, health and safety, imminent danger be so people understand exactly what could be sped up to the city prosecutor's office even before 30 days, certainly 30 days. You know, a building that has a substandard roof where there's holes in the roof that you can actually see through the roof, there's holes in the floor and you can see through the flooring. Clearly, something that does not have running utilities is a significant concern to us as well. Those are truly health and life safety issues to us. We many years ago had a significant backlog of substandard buildings that were truly, truly substandard. And we don't have that level that we used to have, but we do still have buildings that have significant issues that would still be considered eligible for immediate prosecution. Okay. Thank you for clarifying that. And then I will make a few other points of clarification and add a few more things if I can. I think it's important we look at Triplexes. I know that that has been a hot topic. Bit of discussion. But I think if we were able to come back in a I mean, I don't know if it's 60 days or so, whatever, you think it would be sufficient to come back and have some more information on that as to how many triplexes we have and the data around that, I think that would be really important for us to do that. We can look into that. What we don't have right now is a process under business license where we treat them as a business. So if we were to look into this, are you suggesting that we would also modify the business license process so that they would also become a business? I would just like to look at this. I would just like the data to see exactly how many triplexes we have and what we're working with and in the beginning. Okay, we can do that. I also think I mean, on the slumlord note, for lack of a better word, I think landlords that are bad actors, in my opinion, need to be publicized. And I've run this back and forth. And I think it's very important that people that are living in deplorable conditions. Clearly, these landlords are making a profit. These people are making a profit. They're making a profit while putting nothing into their units. No additional repairs. They're unresponsive. They may have had lines. They may be at 120 days or more, and they're wasting city resources, clearly. Now, with that said, they're making a significant negative impact on the city and their tenants. So I would like to look into publicizing our our bad landlord list. I know that there's a list of about ten so far. I don't know if there's more. There may be. But I'd like to know how we can roll this out. Certainly we can. I know that the prosecutor worked closely with the city attorney's office to publish a list of folks who were soliciting, but those were after they were convicted. I would suggest we'd need to work with the city attorney's office and the city prosecutor's office to understand what level of notification we would have to give before we could post them. We do have information. You know, all of our information is public. So we do have the ability to run reports on how many cases we have that are over 120 days, etc.. So I think we can probably craft something with the city attorney and not have to wait that long in order to do that. Right. I mean, we're I mean, we've seen it in other cities there faces, you know, the. I don't know to what extent we could include, you know, what what type of information. But I think it'd be important that we include something on our city website, maybe some other avenues with housing. Long Beach, another apartment association with a lot of outreach. And in terms of who these people are and not to do business in the city of Long Beach like that. I would say that, you know, the information that we do have is certainly public. So it would include the address case numbers, what the initial violations were, the date of those initial violations, etc.. So that is public information. I think we can work with the city attorney's office to mine that data and come back to you with a suggestion on on what the appropriate timeline would be for us posting that information. That would be great if it came back with the information as well as the Triplexes. And then lastly, I think just as we're on the eve of budget budget discussions, I think it's important that we do look a little bit more deeply at our data collection. I don't know if our tracking system is necessarily as mentioned. I will agree as well. I've asked for reports and it's not very clear as to who we've gone to, who we visited, what the contact was. I think it's beneficial for both the landlord and the tenant to know. Maybe if someone didn't answer their door what the what all the fine details are. And so I would like to just for us to consider that in our budget discussions as to what we can do and what is possible for a better data system. We can certainly talk about the existing capabilities of our system and how we can try to grow that. It is very challenging for us to do reports that are that remain in the system. You know, once we close the case, the case is closed and those reports no longer consider that address when you're looking at, for example , open cases. So so the numbers of our cases are frankly constantly in motion as we open new cases and close old cases. So we can certainly look at ways to enhance that. Okay, great. Thank you very much. Thank you. Councilmember Your Honor. Thank you, Mayor. Lina, I want to thank you for your diligence in this. Those other items that you mentioned, there are those amendments also that you want to include in the in the current. I'm asking for the triplexes and the slumlord information to just come back as a as information. So not necessarily amendments to the ordinance, but just information to come back and the molasses, just a consideration as we get into budget season. Okay. Thank you. While we know that this is a very difficult issue, it's one that has merits on both sides of the aisle here, as I see it right here. But one of the most important things that we have to deal with as as a city council is what do we think is the best and fair way to be able to treat this? We're dealing with human lives. We're dealing with people's lives. We're dealing with their ability to live, and then also with the ability of people to make a profit. But in the end, it's a public health issue as far as I see it, when it comes down to inspections with not only inspecting the living conditions, but it's the deplorable or the living conditions that are there in terms of mold, in terms of vermin, in terms of what other kind of infestation that might be existing in these properties. And I think that one of the things that we lost a few years ago is, is the ability to have health inspectors be a part of this process. I spoke with our IRA with Angela. And I want to thank you very much and. Reynolds for sharing her thoughts with me on this. However, I think that when we transferred the ability of the health department to make inspections in housing, I think we lost a very important component in regards to inspections experts, people who are trained to recognize the living conditions that people might be living in, to recognize mold and just be able to recognize, actually, that a landlord may have just cleaned it up and painted over it and still be able to recognize that there's mold is still there, still existing, that it's not it has not been mitigated and it has not been addressed. I also am concerned, other health issues concerned as well. We know that a lot of the housing elements that we have are old and there's probably a lot of lead based paint still existing in a lot of these apartment buildings because they haven't been repainted in a long time. There was someone earlier said that when they put their property up for sale, they did absolutely no investment in it. They didn't do anything. And so that raises a flag in terms of what had what have they done to that apartment or rental unit that makes them believe that they can sell it as is and still make a profit out of it. So I'm really concerned about that. And I want to thank the housing people and the coalition for their willingness to come and meet with me and share their thoughts. I visited a an apartment in seventh District, and I witnessed firsthand some of the deplorable conditions that these people live in. I saw open water. I saw water coming in through next to the outlets, electrical outlets. I saw mold and I saw droppings of not only rat or mice, but of cockroaches and other type of infestations that that are in the houses. And that was just deplorable. And my heart goes out to those tenants who have to live in those deplorable conditions. On the other hand, I know that, you know, we can't throw the baby with the bathwater in respect to apartment owners. They're not all bad. We're talking about the very low percentage of bad land, bad land owners at the apartment, owners who have been taking advantage of their tenants and do not want to take care of their their facilities in their apartments because they're looking at the profit margin. And when it cuts into that, they're not going to do anything about it because it's all about being able to make rent or make their mortgage because they do have payments to make as well. So I could see both sides. And I want to thank them. The Apartment Manager Association as well for meeting with me and sharing their viewpoints and their thoughts. It's not perfect what we're dealing with today. I want to thank you, Councilmember Gonzalez, for bringing these amendments to the table. I think it's something that moves us in a positive direction. It's not reap. Let's face it that that's not what we're dealing with tonight. We want it. You want it? Fine. However, we can't get there. Not tonight, but at least I think that with these amendments, we're getting closer to something that's going to be amenable later on down the line as we move forward with this. I think that when we're looking at how do we want to place Long Beach in regards to this issue, I would like I would like language in everything that we do. I want Long Beach to be a leader in everything that we have. This is one step towards that. I think it's a it's a step that would be headed towards the right direction because it s addressing the issues at hand. It's addressing potential punishments, if you will, for slumlords with the the state franchise board, the tax board program. It's not rep and it's not an escrow, but it's something that gives it teeth. Maybe not. Maybe they're baby teeth that maybe they'll fall off as you take the first bite. But it's something that I think is workable and that can be used to send the message because that's what we want. I think in the end, we want to send a message to to to those the bad landlords, bad owners that we're we're looking and we're paying attention and we're going to come after you if you're not if you're if you're misbehaving. And I think that's the message that we need to send. Thank you. Councilman Andrews? Yes, thank you, Vice Mayor. You know, I would like to thank the staff for their hard work on filling in the holes and finding solutions to our miserable code that protects residents from terrible living conditions and some apartment. I would like to thank the Apartment Association for their efforts to help bring about positive change and working with us to promote the very small community of property owners who do not care for their properties and protecting the rights of the vast majority of good property owners. And I'd like to thank Mr. Murchison here to explain a lot of things with both the property owners and and the slumlords that we speak about. They're not here tonight. You have individuals who really care about their property and care about the people who live in their property. And I think that's something I really want to commend both of you here to listen to both sides with the dialog that we can use here, because tonight is letting us know that we do have some bad guys out there. And I think we're going to find them. We're going to seek you out and let you know that people do have a right to live in decent places. And I would like to thank the Councilmember, Lina Gonzalez, for helping with her passion and leadership on this issue. And I support you Motion. And I would like to also thank the community groups and housing of Long Beach for working so hard on this issue and helping the community. And I feel the pain. I see your challenge and I hear your cry. I have firsthand experience in working with the properties that are in terrible conditions. My hope is that we are making a significant change that will help make it better for men, women, children and seniors who have no choice but to live in these conditions. If the City of Long Beach can't protect them, then who will? I'll be watching this and I'll be continuing the dialog to ensure all of Long Beach. It has a right to stay in their homes in a safe and free from the conditions I have seen firsthand. And I want to thank all of you to come out tonight, because I know it's been a long night, but you have come out with your sincerity, your honesty, and hoping that we can find a better place for all of us to live in. And thank you very much. Thank you. Councilmember Andrews, Councilwoman Price. Thank you. I agree with my colleagues and Councilman Andrews on the statements that he just made. I, too, want to thank everyone for coming out. I've had the privilege to meet with so many of you who are out in the audience every time you've requested a meeting on the subject. I've had the opportunity to meet with you and have in fact met with you and been educated on the issues. So I appreciate everyone coming out and taking the time to not only educate but also to collaborate. My very first meeting with Housing Long Beach, and I know that at least one of the folks who was in the meeting with me, I said the first thing I said is, have you met with the apartment association? Is that something that you're open to doing? Because I think when the two groups work together, we can come up with reasonable and meaningful areas where we can reach an agreement on that are realistic given our fiscal limitations. You know, I know that housing Long Beach has pushed for and really wanted us to adopt REAP. I get that. And that's been the position of housing Long Beach from day one. My personal viewpoint on it is that rape is not warranted in the city of Long Beach. It's not fiscally or legally feasible for us. Given the information that I have and that I've received from our staff and just so you know, I have personally met with staff, city attorney staff on two occasions and our development services staff on I can't even count how many times I've met with them to talk about this and ask them the follow up questions that both organizations have asked me to act to, to take back and and research. So I've done that. And I appreciate that staff's work on this and the fact that they've been so incredibly responsive and educational in their in their approach. So I want to thank them for their work as well. I want to thank Councilwoman Gonzalez for the amendments that she's made today. I think that the amendments really go to the heart of what it is that we're able to do as a city, as the city of Long Beach, given the current problem as we know it to exist. And what that means is that the amendments that the councilwoman has proposed specifically target the individuals who are out of compliance, and that minority of individuals who are out of compliance should in fact be held to a different standard, and they should be targeted and penalized in order to serve as a deterrent for future bad actions on their part. You know, we have an issue comes up all the time in the city of Long Beach, especially in those neighborhoods that have a lot of bars and restaurants where people want to approach an entire industry with broad strokes. And I think that that is not prudent because I think that in every industry and in every field and in every type of business, you're going to have good actors and you're going to have bad actors. And it's really important to incentivize and empower and support the good actors because. They are, in fact, investing in our community and helping our community be better and to really go after the bad actors, either through peer pressure or through sanctions, in order to deter their future conduct. So I think that the idea of putting them on this, you know, along beaches, most out of compliance landlords, I don't know what they're going to call it, but I think that that making that a very public access document or public access system that allows for people to see that these individuals are in fact not being responsible landlords is important. I think the frequency of fees is important. So I support those completely and I think outreach is very important from the very beginning. The one issue that's concerned me is obviously retaliation. You know, we don't want people to feel retaliated against. That to me is the one issue that really speaks to me. We want people to have the right to advocate for themselves and to protect themselves and their family and to really do what they can within their rights to utilize the city's resources. So and they should not be retaliated against. That is absolutely a fundamental right. And I think that that to me is the one piece that housing Long Beach has reiterated to me that really resonates with me. I think outreach is going to go a long way in that regard, communicating with not just the landlords but also the tenants and whatever effective way that we can to educate them on what their rights are is very, very important. And I also think that it's important for us to be mindful that that is happening and that people might be afraid to reach out for whatever reason, whether it's cultural, whether it's linguistic, whatever the case may be, so that we could be a little bit more proactive when it comes to that. I also support Councilwoman Gonzalez's request for staff to study further and come back to council with some more information for us or propose solutions on some of the items that she's requested. I think asking staff to research things is really great. It's good for us to have the information. It's good for us to know what is available as we move forward. So I think that's very good. I will say in regards to Triplexes, probably a bit premature, but we have a lot of Triplexes in the city of Long Beach and I would preliminarily not think it would be fiscally prudent or otherwise prudent for us to change the business license structure as they relate to the TRIPLEXES and require them to have a different business license structure. So, you know, we'll wait and see what that data shows. But I am in favor of studying the issue and getting more information because I think as a council we make better decisions when we have more information. So I commend her for those recommendations. Just make sure I said everything. And I welcomed the new leadership for housing Long Beach. So welcome. I think one of the things that is most effective in advocacy is not just to be, you know, a loud advocate, but also to be an effective advocate. And so I really respect the fact that you're open to collaborating and working with both sides in order to reach some solutions. Because I can tell you, anytime reasonable solutions are presented to us, we consider them. We absolutely do. So welcome and thank you. Councilmember Alston. Thank you. And this has been a very, very interesting to take in. I want to thank all of the speakers, speakers from the housing advocates. I want to thank the landlords, the property owners who came before us and spoke out and shared all of your perspectives, your firsthand perspectives and knowledge on this issue. Much of the testimony was was extremely compelling. And I just want to also thank staff for their their very thorough staff report on this. This was, I think, some of the best work that I've seen, and it was truly collaborative work. The Apartment Association were collaborators. I know the housing Long Beach were stakeholders in this process. This final report, the staff report may not be what everybody wants. And I'm sure what ultimately what this council decides here tonight won't be what everybody won't leave here happy. I think nobody's going to get exactly what they wanted when they came here tonight. And if that's the case, this council's probably done its job or will have done its job. I want to thank Councilmember Nina Gonzales for her thoughtful and compassionate amendments or suggestions, her leadership on this issue. I don't think the action tonight will solve the the problems of bad landlords and substandard housing, but we will, I think, take a step in the right direction this evening. We're going to take a step in the right direction this evening because of much of the advocacy from housing Long Beach and many of the residents who have come and shared their personal testimony over months and months and months. We want to thank you for your vigilance. I think some of the solutions here this evening are are good and certainly palatable. They take us in the right direction. I still have a few questions I'm really interested in. And the state of California, franchise tax board, the substandard housing program. It's not ripe, but it has all the mechanisms in place. It's already in place. It doesn't cost the city of Long Beach anything. And if you've heard anything tonight from the previous agenda items, we're thinking about our budget always. We're thinking about cost. We're thinking about long term costs because we want to be able to continue to provide and be the great city that we are and provide the services that we currently provide. And so we need to look at creative options. And I think this the Franchise Tax Board Substandard Housing program is an excellent suggestion by staff and is something that definitely merits everyone's consideration. It's it's real leverage. It it it will, I think, force a bad actor to to to to change their behavior. I'm not sure that we've addressed the retaliation issue here this evening, and that's unfortunate. I wish we could come up with something, something else. And and I've been kind of racking my brain to figure that out. But I think we do need to continue to do this. And by no means do I think this conversation will be over tonight. I don't think our action tonight will will will be a panacea for for for for any problems. But I do think we're headed in the right direction. I'm not sure. Maybe the conversation should be about more code enforcement officers, and we still need to have that conversation. And maybe that's something we think about moving forward. I think, Councilmember, your longest comments were pretty telling regarding the training of these officers and and and maybe we need to invest more in that direction. But at this point, based on what everything that I've heard, all of the analysis and there has been serious, significant detailed analysis on this, there's been hours and hours and hours and months and months and months of staff work on this. They've studied where RIP works, and from my analysis, it's only one city that actually is implementing REAP and it actually has. And that's the city of Los Angeles. If it was the the the answer, so many other cities would be doing it. It's costly. And I think that is. What, what what what what is giving this council great pause is certainly giving me pause. Slumlords and gave property owners a bad name. But you give tenants a bad quality of life. We don't want to we want to expose ourselves slumlords. We want to penalize the slumlords. But I think we also need to, as Councilmember Price said. We want to create incentives for those who are doing the right thing, and that's probably the vast majority of property owners. And so with that, I would ask my colleagues if you would, as in the makers of the motion, to take a friendly amendment offer for the report that is being requested of staff of additional elements to also look at developing a system for landlords that establishes a history of no violations and no complaints over a certain period of time to require these proactive inspections less frequently, you know, maybe every two or three years, as opposed to annually. And then that by doing that, creating that kind of incentive, maybe you, the bad actors, further into compliance. Maybe they look at, well, if I'm not going to be inspected every year, maybe if I if I want to reduce the amount of inspections, I clean my property up and and you know that Denison it could work was that would that be would you be amenable to that? Councilmember Soprano or Mango. And this is essentially providing incentives for the good landlords. So 24 months in addition to what we currently have. In the works. I mean, I'm asking staff to come back. They can come. Back and say. Okay, the number, I'm not necessarily asking to assign that number or that tonight, but. So it's a reward system for positive correct action. Like that of. Reinforcement. Councilmember Austin, is that a request for information back with the other items or cause that part of the ordinance? I think that's a request for information. Back with the other items. That is what I'm asking for. Thank you. In the maker in the second term, Annabelle. Thank you. Yes. So I did have a couple of questions and I just wanted to get some clarification because a lot has been said about our our rental stock throughout the city of Long Beach. And I want to I want to make sure that I'm clear and everybody else watching and participating here are clear. Do Section eight properties apply to this this inspection process? Section eight inspections are part of the health department. Still, when Section eight, when a landlord is going to participate in the Section eight program, the health department inspectors for the housing authority actually go out there and inspect the units prior to allowing the landlord to participate in the Section eight program. There are times when there is overlap and when that landlord is no longer up keeping the property to the standards which he should. But. But when a property is entered into the program, there are inspections for that program. And as I understand it, they are pretty regular inspections as well. Okay. Thank you. And part of the recommendations is to develop a tenant landlord rights and responsibilities brochure is that posture is the city going to assume the costs for that brochure, creating that brochure and providing that to to landlords to provide the tenants? We actually have drafts of the brochures that we shared with housing advocates and the apartment owners advocates to run the the language by both of those entities to make sure that we were not speaking out of turn, both from a landlord perspective and from a tenant perspective. We are intending to translate those in accordance with the language access program and that is being absorbed into the departmental budget. Okay. Thank you. I have no further questions. Councilmember Richardson. Thank you, Vice Mayor. So I wanted to begin by thanking everyone who participated in tonight's council meeting, beginning with the community members. I know you've been here time and time again. Josh, I think this this suits you well. You're a part of the former chief of staff fraternity like like me. And I'm glad to see you here, continuing this great work in the city of Long Beach. I want to thank the property owners for coming out. I was really surprised to see how many actually joined us tonight. You've reached out to my office and met with me and answer my questions and and I've had the opportunity to engage with you. I want to thank city staff for working on this and keeping us abreast on what what the realities are with with the realities with our existing program. I acknowledge that there are bad landlords and there are bad tenants. There were a few things that came up tonight that I think I just want to want to remark on. Someone mentioned, you know, to be a property owner of apartment buildings, you have to make $1,000,000 investment. Now, I can't necessarily identify with that, but I can't imagine that that's more impactful than that or more concerning than an investment someone makes in the in the life or the health of their family that lives in substandard housing. I can't I can't say that just because one is wealthy, you have more or less of an interest in the condition of that of that facility. I would also say that I like the approach and thank you, Councilmember Gonzalez, and asking for more information, because I think this is a long term conversation. I don't think the housing advocates are going anywhere. I don't think the concept is going to go anywhere. But that does bring me to the question of Mr. City manager. When is our next bite at the apple? Should this information come back? And we say that there are elements that we want to look, move forward with. When is our next bite at the apple? I think we're councilmember. We're being directed to come back to the council and with studies to look at Triplexes and will be regularly reporting on this. Again, it's going to come back to probably in just a few weeks for the first year. And the ordinance. Well, to be to be more more specific. Is there anything specific in the ordinance about this coming back for annual update or anything like that? We can certainly provide an annual update to the city offline, to the city council offline. And that is probably something that would be very, very important to do, maybe even at a six month level to know. I think like in an open session, I think we need to check this out like annually. We need an annual update on this. That's what I that's what I think. So that we, you know, these these conversations have a specific space. And I was under the impression that we already had that there was an annual update to the housing habitability ordinance. Can anybody speak to that? Yeah, I think amiibo that count. So as part of our work plan for the housing element, we are required to provide an annual report to both the Planning Commission and the City Council, and then that is actually provided to the state which keeps it online. We are required to report on all of our programmatic activities and this activity with our proactive code enforcement and cut enforcement in general actually falls under a specific program within our housing element. So we are required to file that report April 1st of every year. So it goes to the Planning Commission roughly February of March every year, and then we transmit that information to the City Council. We have the annual number of inspections that we do. Certainly this next year we will actually be reporting that we've actually implemented an ordinance and any other changes that we might be making to our inspection program. But there is an annual vetting of the program already. Perfect. So again, there were updates tonight. There was things that folks requested for information to come back. I think, you know, the community asked for RIP City staff, worked with the apartment association and key community folks and and proposed an alternative. Some would say that this is old soup warmed over but I'm going to say that I'm giving I think folks have given given this a good faith effort, that this is really a meaningful step, especially with the with the amendments that Councilmember Gonzalez threw in there. That's a meaningful step. So I think we should have some accountability in that step to make sure that we're we're checking it and tracking it. So I would say, like, maybe in this ordinance, we just mirror the language that an annual report of this will be reflected in. You know, whatever our annual update is, I'd like to make sure that that's a part of this. Are the makers of Motion okay with that. Let me ask a question first, Mr. City Attorney. If it's a restatement of existing policy, does that materially change the ordinance? Well, no, actually, if it's a restatement of material policy, this is part I believe would be reported back as part of the housing plan. But the ordinance could have a statement in there that there'll be an annual report to the city council. I think it's going to be redundant. And my understanding is that all the changes to the motion already required to come back. Come back so it wouldn't delay it any further. Correct. That wasn't that wasn't my question. But you're right. Makers of motion. This. Go ahead. Yes, I think we can handle that. Okay. Great. So just a couple of things. Well, you know, I was a little embarrassed when I got a call from the L.A. Times guy. And and, you know, I said, hey, you know, we we're on top of this. We're having this conversation. And and, you know, we're I'm familiar with what's happening. And and he gave a narrative that simply said, you know, I pulled the I pulled the property owners who are engaged in rape in L.A. and then went and visited their part, their projects, their apartments here in Long Beach. And and here's what we found. And what I learned was that majority of those were duplexes and triplexes that we went and checked out. So I think it's appropriate that we do that. We do necessarily like explore duplexes and triplexes. I know that your recommendation was for Triplexes. I don't know what the fiscal impact any of this is, but I think like as Councilmember Price and council member, your anger tangled about earlier. I don't think there's any problem with getting more information. So I think while we're looking into triplexes like how many we have, I think we should also look at duplexes. I want to know what we're up against here. And if we make a decision that it's not fiscally prudent to move forward with those, then let's do it based on facts, not based on suppositions. So are you okay with that? Mr.. Making the motion. With the caveat that the business license issue is covered also. Absolutely. Certainly that's something we have to evaluate. If I might ask Mr. Burdick, how do you acquire that information? How are you aware of the number of the request is for information on the number of triplexes and duplexes we have in the city. So how would you acquire that? So we do have we would end up working with our GIS department. They would link to the county assessor's office to give us rundowns on duplexes and triplexes. As I understand it, we were asked to return in 60 days with an offline memo on the triplexes. If we were to add duplexes to that, I would respectfully ask for additional time to look into this. The data that we get is not 100% accurate, and we would frankly need to define what a duplex is. A two on one lots may not act as a duplex. It may be a granny flat, but it may show up in the assessor's information as a duplex because there are two separate units and two separate addresses on that property. That's a very, very different rental scenario than a business, a four plex, you know, renting as an investment property. So I think with the duplexes, I have a lot more concerns about what is an investment property as opposed to what is an opportunity for a property owner to, you know, make a little bit of of money and rent to a family member or a friend or even a tenant. But that's a very different situation than a four plex or a ten plex, which is truly an investment property. If we were to add duplexes to the request for a TFF, I, I would just respectfully ask for a little bit more time to investigate those issues. And so and so and I would, I, I, I understand where, where you're going with that. I would say that in order for us to make a decision, I would say we wait a couple of weeks to make sure that information is accurate. And my thought was not that we're just asking for numbers, but it was sort of an explanation of what the impacts are of going to go in three, you know, in terms of the business license situation, in terms of, you know, any logistical or staffing concerns or or fiscal impacts, I just want to have a better understanding of what one means versus the other so that that's my request. And then, Councilmember Richardson, before we move on from that item, Mr. Burdick raises an issue about duplexes and back houses or single family homes. Is our intent here. To. Identify certain solution sets because of the nature of the property or because of the nature of our status as renters? I think that's a fundamental question. So if I mean, you've gone from multifamily units to having information on how many triplexes there are and how many duplexes there are. But I think what we want to get to and really for all people here, we want the same things, which is no renters should be subjected to the conditions that we've heard described and we know exist, whatever small percentage. So it's the renter that we're looking to protect. So if I'm renting a back home, why would my status be any different than if I was renting in a four plex or a triplex? And I'm not necessarily throwing that question at you. But. Ms.. Burdick. Is there a way that you could, without a significant amount of work, at least identify rental properties, properties that are claimed as rental properties, whether they are to plex's, triplexes, whatever it is. What I would not like to see us do is create a two class system where we are saying renters. In this type of unit, we value their quality of life more than renters somewhere else. And I'm asking that question because I don't know the answer of how difficult that would be. But we're passing this down so far down we're leaving. Yeah, I actually agree. That's exactly what what I'm trying to articulate here. Renner's Renner, what is their condition? The L.A. Times article actually discussed Renner's that are not wouldn't fall into what we're discussing tonight. I agree. I want to understand in this report, like, what is the fiscal impact of just categorizing, you know, Renner as a Renner and what, you know, what does that mean if you're in a duplex, multifamily, a triplex? I'd like to. Think it might be impossible to get to that, because you also have people who are renting rooms in in homes. And so there will be a population of individuals that we won't be able to reach with a sweeping policy. And that's something that we have to accept. But if I can have misspoke, let us know what's what's possible and practical. Then we have a realistic understanding of what she can do. And again, I honestly don't know the answer to that. You know, as you're talking about that, I'm thinking of the person who bought an investment condo in a high rise who is renting it out. They are a renter. They're no different than a renter in a four plex or a ten plex. I would point out a couple of things. Remember, the program that we're doing, we're talking about is a proactive inspection program. And even if we were to move forward to a reward system for those individuals, owners who maintain their properties, I think it would be a bit challenging to staff it in an appropriate level. You know, we are already understaffed in our current multifamily tenant program and there would certainly be fee increases that would need to be incurred. Having said that, you know, we'll take complaints of violations in any way we can get them. It doesn't matter who gives them to us. It doesn't matter if a tenant tells their pastor and the pastor calls us. It doesn't matter if the tenant tells their doctor or a social worker or someone at the health department or calls any of your council offices. The important thing for us is that we get those violations taken care of, whether it's a property owner who's being a bad neighbor or whether it's a landlord being a bad landlord, or whether it's a fellow tenant who's wreaking havoc on the rest of the tenants in the building. What is important to us at the end of the day is habitability for all of the housing stock in the city. And so, you know, I don't know the specifics to your answer. I am absolutely willing to explore this and go down this road with you. I just don't know what level of resources are going to be needed to do that. But absolutely happy to do it. Okay. Councilmember Richardson, thank you. Do you have more items? Well, I think everything articulated has been redirected to answer questions that I didn't ask. I'd like to just wrap this up and then move on. So it's in I think it makes sense. So the the four units in up are the proactive piece and anyone has the ability to call code enforcement. Is that what I just heard? Including those who live in four units or more. So just because we don't visit that property, it does not mean that you can't call 570 code. I get it. That makes a lot of sense. Units are less. Excuse. So if in the conversation about triplexes or duplex is really about what the impact would be on a proactive program if there's a fiscal impact impact of the business license circumstances. So based on how many tenants and units there are, correct, is that is that what would come back? You know, I think we'll look into it. I think we're going to have to look into certain definitions under state law. You know, what is a dwelling unit? What is a rental? What is a room rental versus a unit? And come back with some definitions and work within those definitions to find out exactly how many of those, you know, units we have in the city and then calculate if we were to do a proactive program, what that cost would be. So to do that on the so that that calculation, that formula, it's basically a per unit cost, right? You can get it down to a per unit cost. So if it's triplexes, we would know per unit how much it would cost to be able to have a proactive program based on that. Right. You know, that's what we are hoping to do. That's not how the current fee schedule is set up, but that is something that we are looking at. We do think it would be far more equitable to be a per unit cost than grouping them together. Sure. So based on per unit, it would be very simple to calculate. Okay, this is how many? Four and up units. This is how many triplexes? How many duplexes. Based on that formula, this is what it would. And then if anybody wanted to take it a step further and use that on that formula and say this is how many, you know, single family, this is how many everything. Then to have a proactive program, you would understand what that fiscal impact would be. Am I right in that logic? Yes. Okay, great. So so that said, to move on. The last part is, I agree with with Councilmember Ranga that like this is a major public public health thing. And I think, you know, there's a public health lens that should be applied to this. And, you know, I just you know, I made sure that I brought photos. I went out and visited an apartment in my district and I was blown away just at the images like this is supposed to be a white wall and it's like blue and purple with mold. And this was a one bedroom apartment with and I've told everybody about this and I reported this place, but it's a one bedroom apartment with mold. There was a baby living in there. And I just couldn't imagine living in there myself personally. And so, you know, I reported it, but when I spoke with the property owner, what they said was they were afraid to report it based on retaliation and that that particular family had issues with documentation. And so I do want to make sure and I know today is not that day, but I do want to make sure we have a conversation about retaliation and that we do give some evaluation to like public health here. And I know that those considerations are there and that they used to be in the health department. But I think that. Councilmember, your angel makes a very good point. Thank you again, Councilmember Gonzalez, for for leading on this. And I think that's all I have. Thank you. Councilmember Mongo. Can I first start by hearing where we are with the motion and how many friendlies we have and where we are? It's all very friendly. Certainly, I'll try and summarize it. There's a motion currently on the floor to adopt a staff recommendation, plus amending the ordinance in three ways to add the State Franchise. Tax Board. Program to increase the citation review and frequency and third by Council District nine to. Require an annual report. And also and then and then there's four items or five items now that are to come back for additional information or adding $75,000 for the outreach and education of this program. That would not be part of the ordinance to come back with information on how to advertise or roll out a list of poor landlords or landlords who are not in compliance, requesting information on the number of triplex and now duplexes within the city, and to an information on how we can better collect the data for the units that are inspected. And then also information on some sort of an incentive to lower the number of inspections for those landlords or apartments that are in compliance . So let me start by saying that. Though discouraged by my mother from sharing this story, I'm going to share it anyway. When I lived in another place, I had paid three months rent in advance and within two weeks we were infested with mice. Within 90 days of becoming a council member, I opened my garage door one morning. Yes, I'm the woman who wears hot rollers to work. And as I drove out of my driveway, there was a man standing there who told me about the roaches in his house. And so it happens all over the city. And it is important that we have teeth for our bad landlords. We're very lucky in Long Beach. 90% of our landlords, actually probably closer to 99% of our landlords are excellent individuals. And I stand firmly with Lena in the additional. Punishment for those who are terrible because we don't want terrible landlords to own property in Long Beach, we would be more than happy for them to sell their multimillion dollar investment and go somewhere else. We also. I stand strongly with Councilmember Austin. In that we must incentivize those who do a great job to relieve the pressure on the staff, to focus completely on our bad landlords, our good landlords, our good landlords and their consistently good landlords. I hope that we will model our program after the Santa Ana program, which after a history of zero infractions, you move to a 48 month inspection cycle, which has been seen as a very successful model. It reduces the workload of court code enforcement on the good landlords by a significant amount by almost. I want to say it was 40% in a study that was done in 2010, and that additional 40% of staffing can be used to reduce the penalties from the 30 days to the 15 days. It can increase the number of visits. It can increase the proactive review of areas of concern. It can increase the number of inspections on the landlords that are consistent violators. It can work more closely with our outreach programs so that once the first $75,000 is gone, that this is an outreach responsibility of the department because those staff members who used to be inspecting 18 to 24 months are then able to spend that time on the things that we want to do to become the premier rental and landlord city in America. So with all of those things said, I really want to thank a few people who came up and spoke tonight. I know I have not met you before, but Mr. Jeff Benedict, I thought you were really eloquent in your ideas related to the incentive program. While I read a lot about it, I appreciate that that our constituents are coming up and bringing those ideas. And had you not brought that up, that was something I was really passionate about as well. Josh Butler. I know you're an alumni of the Chiefs of Staff, but you're also alumni of the Fifth District. And, you know, the house is on our community, one of which was boarded up yesterday. So we are we are working hand-in-hand to make sure that no renter's or any family members or seniors, whether they rent or are in a home of their family member, are in those conditions, including mother in law's quarters, which we have many of in the fifth. And finally, George Rivera, you've you've you've definitely come around and we appreciate the hard work that you've done in motivating individuals to come to council because it is not easy to come to council every Tuesday night. I was just on a flight back from out of state and I sat next to a woman who didn't know I was a councilman and told me I used to go to every city council meeting and she burned out. And you have not burned out. You've been consistent. If she hadn't burned out, I might have met her before sitting next to her on the plane. So good work to each and every one of you. And I think that we've come to something today that is remarkable. I hope that these incentive programs really free up our staff to focus on those bad landlords. I want to make it so difficult to be a bad landlord in Long Beach that it's easier to just be a good landlord or to put their property up for sale. So thank you very much. Thank you, Councilman Mongo. Councilmember Supernormal. I'd just like to thank everyone for presenting tonight also. I just had one quick question and that was for Ms.. Bodak. It seems like we had a little mission creep here, and you seem to have a different tone when it came to the duplexes. And I just want to make sure we have a good solid feeling on that. And is does that double the work? Triple the work if you have to do the duplexes also? You know, first we have to start with defining the universe before I can define for you the mission creep to use your term. So duplexes in general have a different level of concern because they are they had typically in the past never really been seen as true rental properties. And there are housing laws that certainly do protect granny flats and the ability to have granny flats in almost every residential zone in the city. So we do need to look closely at, you know, the intent and what we're trying to achieve. Clearly, there will be workload implications and we will be sharing that with you. And ultimately, it's it's your decision to allocate the resources necessary for us to take on the additional workload. All we can do, really, is to share that information with you, and then you can decide if it's mission creep or not. Okay? Yes, that's good. Councilmember Your Honor. We're coming to the end. I like the direction this discussion has taken thus far of. Some very important items have come up in this discussion. I count three of them that are very important. First of all, we're dealing with a finite number of staff and a finite budget that we're having to work with and having that we know that now we have to have the data. We need to know what we're dealing with and come with that. Data comes definitions defining a duplex, defining what is a rental property. And I think that once we take care of those issues, we can arrive at something that's going to be workable and positive for the city. However, we can't get there without knowing what it is we're dealing with. We're dealing with issues that are very important, not only to the to the tenants, which are of the utmost importance, because, you know, there's a chicken and the egg type of thing. Who came first? A renter or the property owner? So, I mean, we have they have to work together and being able to resolve these issues. When it comes down to inspections, there was a consideration about forgiveness program, if you will, or a delayed inspection program. I'm not sure how that's going to work when we have thousands, probably tens of thousands of rental properties out there, some of which will never get inspected, some of which will probably take years, years to even get inspect, inspect it once and where. And one of the issues that we addressed earlier or that has been brought up was, you know, 10% we're looking at 10% of inspections. That's not going to get everything and it's going to take years to get all of them. And how do we identify who's a good land owner and who's not? It's going to be hard to do that. So I'm not I'm leery, wary of what an inspection program or a a relief program is going to look like in rewarding the good tenants, a, the good landlords versus a bad. I'm not sure how that's going to work. The other aspect that I'm concerned about is the escrow, not the school program, the the the tax board program, if that's within 120 days and the renter has already been noticed about. The inspection that's coming or that's that was already there. And then the landlord pushes out that renter. What good has it done? I mean, the renter has already been kicked out. And the and the escrow program is it's going to take 120 days to fix it. If at all. So I'm still a little concerned about how that is going to come into the mix. And perhaps that's something that staff can evaluate and look at in terms of not only rewards, but penalties. Something that that's in there in the interim while we're moving forward with some kind of program. And then lastly, like I said, my my first comments were about dealing with a finite number of staff and a finite budget. It's going to be difficult to implement this program. It's going to be difficult to implement even a deep program because it all costs money. So we all we have to look at out of the box thinking, if you were to coin the cliche, as we always have out of the box. But it is something that we need to seriously take into consideration in terms of the implications for the city, in staff and in resources to be able to push this forward . So those are my closing remarks there. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Urunga. And I wanted to just add a few comments myself. I wanted to thank everyone that came today for your patience. Many of you have worked on this for a very long time, just not the months that this council has taken up this policy issue. And while landlords and renters sat in different sides of the room, I do think you heard today that we do want the same things. I don't think you have landlords in the room today that qualify under the descriptions that you had brought forward for the horrible conditions that many of you described that you live in. So you do have people that are good operators that are here. I wish there was a way to find out exactly what percentage of operators, landlords in our city are under that qualification of horrible slumlords. That's small. We don't know how small. And as I had said before, one is clearly too many because you have families living in the circumstances that were described today and they're all over the city. Some are far more deplorable in certain certain districts. I know this. Several of you have come forward and indicated your second district residents, many of your first district and sixth district, they're all over the city and it's not acceptable. I think we're making a good first start. And that does sound cliche. And I will admit that we do often talk about taking small steps toward larger policy advances, and that's public policy. It is a work in progress. We are not able to cure this situation. The situation precedes all of us. And the human condition of gaming other human beings precedes all of us. And that's really what we're talking about here as well, is when we talk about one human being taking advantage of another and being able to do so because of poverty levels, because of circumstances where we cannot do anything about that, and then those power struggles will continue to exist. And what we hope to do here in the city with with this first step is to cut that short a little bit, is to blunt the force of what that can be like for an individual or a family with the various items that come back for information. I think we assure you that this council will continue to review this. It's not over tonight, and you need to feel confident that it's not because of the items that the city attorney listed, the items for information, the items that will come back, those are all different opportunities that this council will have to either expand on the policy to review it, to make it better, to change it, whatever it needs to be. And so your active engagement is still required. Both of your active engagement is required. And I appreciate Councilmember Richardson's way of articulating that one person's interest does not supersede and others that wealth and investment in one property is not an indication of of the greatest of intention or requirement to protect that investment. We as individuals with families have the same interest to protect our investment, which is our quality of life for our families. So thank you for articulating it in that way. It was it was clear and and it was pure. And I think no one would disagree with that. And so for that, I'm very thankful. But I want to our staff is with all of this work that you've put into it and you are aware of the various bad actors that come toward that that exist in this city, are we in any way able to track or prove that we're reaching previously a segment of the community that didn't used to trust either the city or didn't used to trust that retaliation was an issue? Is there a particular way that we're reaching out to them? Are we working with for instance, I look at housing Long Beach and this is something we can do offline, certainly off line from this ordinance. But it's a very strong advocacy group that people trust. And throughout this whole process, I think what we heard is trust is lacking, trust of landlords, trust of city, trust of authority, trust , distrust in general. That's broken fundamentally. But we do have an advocacy group that I have seen in the council, has seen, has a tremendous amount of trust with these individuals. Can we work with them in a way where, as you said earlier, anyone can make a complaint. So if our advocacy group comes forward with a complaint from a particular unit, instead of just reviewing that one unit so we don't isolate or target that renter, can we not inspect that entire building work with certain stakeholders? And it could be the apartment association as well. They can come forward and say they're aware of a bad actor. And so let's inspect the entire building, give it sort of a priority status because it's coming through a trusted group. First of all, we have been working with housing Long Beach and. An informal process. They have given us the ability to provide us some referrals to certain units or tenants of concern. We do inspect the building and look around the building. If we're if we're going into one specific unit for a specific health hazard reason. We do need the tenant's permission to get into that unit and to investigate. But we also do look around at the rest of the building and we do knock on other doors in that building as well. If there are other tenants in the building, when we're there and they happen to open the doors, we will absolutely talk to those tenants and look in their apartments if they will let us do that related to trust. That is a key component. We have recognized over the last year that the voice of government knocking on your door is not always welcome. And we understand that there are groups out there that can reach tenants and reach landlords better than we can. And so I think that was the idea behind Councilmember Gonzalez's initiative to have us work with community organizations or or CBOs or non-governmental organizations to reach out to those areas where we know there are problems. We know that there may be language barriers, and we know that there's high concentrations of code issues. But we're not just we're just aren't seeing the complaints coming in. So I do think that that's something that we're going to look forward to. And as I said, again, we'll take any complaint in any way, shape or form that it is provided to us and treat it seriously. I can't say that enough tonight, really. So I guess my final closing comment on this is, you know, I really appreciate the attention that the city council is paying to this. I do think that on all sides of the chamber, we are here focusing on housing habitability issues. There are certain skills that the government can bring to that task and certain skills that we just don't have or we're just not as nimble savvy by working with both the advocates and the Apartment Owners Association, I think we can get there where we want to go. Thank you, Ms.. Broderick. And the question of retaliation came up many times today, and that's not something we would solve today either. And I'd like us to consider, aside from the state law and other definitions of what the city's role is in protecting our residents from retaliation, I would like and I know that you do think about this, but I think this council has demonstrated that it is not tolerant of of our residents living in fear and fear of really standing up for our for their quality of life and their rights. And so as you think this through, I don't want us to lose track of retaliation as a risk. There's always a calculated risk that we take when we stand up for something that we believe in. And that's what advocacy is always about. It's a calculated risk of what you will lose in order to achieve what is right. I want us to consider what is our burden in in sharing that risk and removing some aspect of that for our residents. And that, I do think, is an obligation we have. Whether state law requires it or not is to consider that as we consider developing policies and improvements is to not fall into the belief that we cannot do anything about retaliation. And that's more just of a statement rather than something you need to respond to. But I am confident that it's on your minds as much as it is on ours. Understood. Thank you. Thank you. And with that, I do thank all of you. I think this council is prepared to take a vote tonight. And as I said, this is our start and we hope to continue to get better. And thank you for all of your engagement and interest on this issue and your support and valuable input. With that council members, please cast your vote. Motion carries 9000. Okay. So we are back to the regular agenda item. Item 17. 17. Actually, if we can take 5 minutes, that. Would be great. Why did you do this? Yeah. Thank you. Would you like me to get your anger? Richardson. You're on the air and dear in the bathroom. Just. I guess you would have got one month. All right, members, we don't have a quorum. Chiefs of staff, can you go retrieve your members, please? I need you looking official. Thank you. All right, we have a quorum. Madam Clerk. Item 17.