At the corner of the 7th and Witmer streets, not far from downtown Los Angeles, is a six-story gray and orange building which was to serve as permanent support for the previous homeless.
But for many tenants who have long dreamed of leaving the street and in their own apartment, the property has become a horror show.
In a lawsuit brought against the current and old owners and the property managers of the establishment, the tenants say that the building fell in ruins and lacked security for months, allowing foreigners to walk in the property, resulting in break -ins, drug use and fires in the cages.
Lawyer Josh Nuni presents the trial to one of the complainants, resident Donald Trahan.
Complaints concerning the lack of hot water, current failures, roach infestations and mold contamination remained unanswered, according to the tenants. And the only elevator in the building is subject to the rupture, in one case for months, to fail several disabled tenants who have been forced to count on neighbors for food and grocery store.
A tenant who uses a wheelchair told Times that she had to crawl on the stairs like a child. Another tenant said he had undergone a stroke after transporting grocery stores in six stairs.
And now, after years of complaint, the tenants said that they had no choice but to continue the owners and the real estate managers for having enabled the building to fall into an extremely negligence and dilapidation that submitted them to “abyssal living conditions”.
The development of the several million dollars building, which includes studios and units of a room, a central courtyard, an outdoor bridge and a parking lot for up to 34 vehicles, began in 2014 and was completed in 2020.
The building was celebrated for obtaining a certification of sustainability “Leed for Homes” and was the first to implement the use of rainwater and gray waters to provide toilets and irrigation, depending on the trial.
The building is partially funded by rents and public subsidies of the tenants of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and Los Angeles Department of Health Services, among other sources.
The permanent support housing project is intended for people who know chronic homelessness and have demonstrated a need for housing support.
“The way this property was managed is not only immoral, but it is also a complete betrayal of the public trust,” said Josh Nuni of the popular law project, which represents tenants in partnership with Capstone Law APC. “The accused here received millions of public money for a brand new building, then completely collapsed.”
Standing outside the building earlier this week, Nereida Vazquez, 48, a longtime tenant, melted in tears by receiving a copy of the trial in which she and 23 other current and former tenants are appointed complainants.
“All we want is living a normal life-having a house and trying to live independent and productive as anyone,” she said, shouting.
Residents meet outside a permanent support housing complex which is at the center of a legal action.
The trial, filed on Wednesday at the Los Angeles Superior Court, appoints the defendants, the owner of the property, the 7th and Witmer, as well as the previous entities supervising commercial operations and managing the 76 units building.
Among the names are two companies: Decro Witmer and Trillium Property Management. In August, Decro began to manage commercial operations and Trillium began to manage the property.
Ted Handel, CEO of DECRO, said he had not seen the trial and could not respond to the allegations made by the tenants.
“If they claim activities before September 2024, it was not under our surveillance,” he said.
Handel, however, acknowledged that the building was in ruins when his business went on board and tried to solve several problems, including security problems.
Handel said the company had hired a new security company and installed security cameras, but awaited approval from the city’s permits to strengthen security.
“We take a number of proactive measures to ensure the safety and security and well-being of residents, and this is essential to what we do,” he said.
The trial alleges that companies have not solved a multitude of problems in the building, including infestations of bugs and rats. A lack of security, said the pursuit, led to burglaries, thefts and attacks.
Residents gather outside the housing complex near downtown Los Angeles.
“A constantly defective elevator which, at one point, has not been spread for months, failing the disabled tenants on the upper floors and forcing all the tenants to go up and descend the flights of dangerous stairwells and not held damaged by fires and garbage, drug vehicles and human lesions”, the trial reading in part.
The units of the building suffer from a serious humidity and an accumulation of humidity, including under the boards. This contributed to contamination of mold, according to the costume.
“Defective plumbing with backups and brown and brown overflows and overflows that have led several (tenants) to feel skin infections and irritation with swollen, red, cracked skin and oozing wounds, in particular on the lower limbs of tenants,” said the costume.
The trial also claims that companies have failed to make repairs in the building even when they were told by inspectors of the Los Angeles Housing Department.
“We are aware of this place on Witmer (Street),” said Sharon Shadow, spokesperson for Lahd. “There have been problems there, but a new partner has entered and worked to stabilize the property.”
A single compliance order of the city remains for property, an obligation to repair the elevator, said Shadow.
Handel said the elevator had been set. But he noted that when the elevator breaks down the tenants are temporarily placed in hotels during repairs.
The tenants said they had noticed recent improvements. They said there were door locks on the emergency doors and that the elevator had been fixed. Although they confirm that they were placed in hotels when the elevator was recently out of service, they complain that hotels were not safe and endemically with prostitution and drug use.
Shana Hauanio, 52, who lives on the third floor of the building, remembers having to crawl on the stairs when the elevator broke recently, a process that would take him 30 minutes. Sometimes she said, her 67-year-old boy had to help him go up the stairs.
“It’s humiliating,” she said.
Andrew Amer, one of the complainants, lives in a unit with unusable toilets, among other plumbing problems. He presents himself elsewhere.
Andrew Amer, a tenant who uses a wheelchair after the loss of a leg, said he had to drag his chair from top to five staircases to see a doctor and shop.
Richard McLay, 65, who lives on the top floor of the building and used a cane, said that he had fallen a few times on the stairs and asked his friends and neighbors to monitor him as a precaution against new falls.
He said he had undergone a stroke two years ago on his return with the grocery store to find that the elevator did not work and was forced to climb the stairs several times.
But more recently, he said, he was forced to take the stairs when the elevator was out of service and security did not allow people who provide meals and drugs to come in his apartment.
“It is not true,” he said. “Even my physiotherapist, they did not let him enter. I had to go down and do it when the elevator broke.”
The tenants hope that the trial will push operators to solve other problems in the building.
“Permanent support accommodation is essential, and we need it much more,” said Nuni, “but no one should be forced to live like this. I hope this case puts other permanent housing operators to note: if you do not take your basic obligations as a serious owner, you open up to an important responsibility.”
California Daily Newspapers
