To the editor: When I read Joshua Kamali's article about the plight of Los Angeles' small property owners, I wanted to stand up and applaud… and also cry.
We are also family owners and own four units. We take our responsibilities as housing providers very seriously, but we and people like Kamali have been completely abandoned and, in fact, attacked by the Los Angeles City Council and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
Phone companies, grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, pharmacies – were any of these companies expected to continue providing their service for free during the COVID-19 pandemic? The small owners were and still are chained.
We receive enthusiastic letters of gratitude from tenants who have been in this business for 20 years, but an experience we had recently with a squatter soured us. As Kamali stated, if policies like rent freezes and free lawyers for tenants facing eviction become the norm, small landlords like us will leave Los Angeles.
But maybe that's what the City Council and County Board of Supervisors want.
Kathy McGrath, Sherman Oaks
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To the editor: Kamali did an excellent and accurate analysis of the eviction defense fund that is now available to tenants who do not pay rent.
The only defense for nonpayment of rent is the lack of habitability of the unit. Funds from this program should instead be used to help reestablish these individuals as paying tenants. This would prevent many evictions and justify the use of public funds.
Defense attorneys simply delay the inevitable. By doing so, they obtain free rent for their clients and deny the housing provider their right to repossess and re-rent the apartment, a form of legalized theft.
Julia Araiza, Tustin
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To the editor: Kamali owns “only” 12 units. And he wants us to believe that he is a poor worker who scrapes together his pennies to survive.
Twelve units is a lot of property, Mr. Owner.
And Kamali has the answer to all our problems. Let's have the city review all housing proposals first to get their input.
Actually? Give me a break.
Michael Harold, West Los Angeles
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To the editor: In his call to protect small landlords from excessive legal fees incurred by tenants who resist eviction, Kamali misses a key point.
The more small property owners sell their local properties, the more likely it will be that large corporations will purchase these properties with the intention of building luxury apartments and condominiums in their place, further depleting the availability of affordable housing.
Small landlords, as those most likely to rent affordable and decent housing, deserve protection from unscrupulous tenants.
Jonathan Kaunitz, Santa Monica
