35 years ago Mr. Mickey Milton Howard, a retired LA school teacher purchased a home at 2052 – 2054 Paramount Dr, Los Angeles. 27 years ago Mr. Howard rented 2052-B (the lower unit) to Mr. & Mrs. Sakers who still live there today with their minor son.

Unbeknownst to Mr. Howard, who is now 88 years old, the lower unit was never legalized by the previous owner. In 2018, the City of Los Angeles sent Mr. Howard a Notice of Violation and demanded the Sakers and their son move out immediately. The City is requiring Mr. Howard to pay approximately $14,000 for the Sakers’ relocation. Due to rent control, the Sakers would pay nearly twice as much rent for a comparable space. They may not qualify for an apartment in LA but they cannot move out of LA for a number of reasons. They are afraid of becoming homeless after their relocation money is spent on living in hotels.

On June 28, 2019 the LA Department of Housing and Community sent Mr. Howard and his tenants the following Notice of Hearing:

What’s at Stake

Mr. Howard could be assessed financial penalties, fines, hundreds of thousands in equity, plus his monthly retirement income. The Sakers could become homeless, and the tenants in the other two units – the Sigerdson and Allen families – would lose their home (see why below).

Remedies

Mr. Howard contacted SKSI Plans & Permits to legalize the unit. SKSI informed Mr. Howard that since property is in an R-2 zone it is only eligible for 2 units. The City is not providing Mr. Howard and his three tenants any good solutions. Possible remedies include obtaining a variance, UDU conversion, recreation room or redesign the home to incorporate the expanded space into one or both of the other units. Mr. Howard could tear down the existing structure to build a McMansion that would make him millions. But Mr. Howard would rather keep his tenants, and they want to keep him.

SKSI attempted to obtain a variance, but the City Planning Department rejected it as having little or no chance of success because they did not feel there was a hardship. Turning 2052-B into a Recreation Room still does not permit the Sakers to stay. SKSI looked into a “UDU” or Unpermitted Dwelling Unit (not to be confused with ADU – Accessory Dwelling Unit). However, a UDU forces Mr. Howard to commit his property to low income housing for 55 years which is totally ridiculous because the market shifts every couple of years.

A New Precedent

Situations like this are extraordinarily common. A percentage of homeless people got there because the bureaucracy did not have a solution. Policing of unpermitted garage conversions and illegal units have become a higher priority than legalizing the units. SKSI Plans & Permits are experts at generating construction drawings, engineering, Title 24 and expediting permits, but the Planning Department will not clear the project to even reach Building and Safety. The result is substandard and unsafe illegal units. Rifkin estimates hundreds of home owners a day are searching Google to legalize their LA units.

On July 24 at 10:00 am, the MANAGER’S HEARING on 2052 Paramount is an opportunity to set a new precedent. A shift in the MANAGER’S office enforcing illegal units provides the Planning Department an opportunity to rewrite their guidelines and ultimately lead to safer units and dramatically increase the inventory of affordable housing in Los Angeles.