Tenants sue Pasadena, LA County for better living standards after Eaton fire

Two tenant unions and several residents have each filed lawsuits against the city of Pasadena and the county of Los Angeles, frustrated in what they allege are agencies that have failed to meet their legal responsibilities to inspect and enforce safe and habitable living standards for renters following the Eaton fire.

Neighborhood Legal Services of L.A. County, a nonprofit legal advocacy group, announced on Thursday morning that, in conjunction with the legal firm Morrison Foerster LLP, it had filed lawsuits on behalf of the Altadena Tenants Union, Pasadena Tenants Union, along with four named wildfire survivors.

“The message that we’re sending with these lawsuits is simple,” said Whitney O’Byrne, a partner with Morrison Foerster and a board member of NLSLA. “When a government agency fails to protect the health and safety of its residents, especially the most vulnerable, it must be held accountable.”

The lawsuits aim to force government agencies to take legally required actions to thoroughly inspect rental residences for hazardous toxins and see that appropriate remediation methods are used by landlords to make them safe and livable.

“A primary issue presenting was that landlords were not remediating units contaminated with toxic smoke, soot and ash,” said Lena Silver, director of policy and administrative advocacy at NLSLA.

Silver said the city and county governments are responsible for conducting the inspections that are the first step in the process, but they have not met that responsibility.

“The County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health, responsible for enforcing and inspecting habitability rights for tenants in unincorporated Altadena, and the City of Pasadena Code Compliance Division, responsible for doing the same in Pasadena, both maintain that smoke, soot and ash inspection do not fall within their purview,” she said.

“Pasadena continues to state that smoke and ash remediation is a purely civil issue,” Silver said. “While Los Angeles has informed us that it has performed a handful of inspections, the type of inspection they’re providing cannot adequately identify the health risks of the impact of toxic smoke, soot and ash.”

L.A. County Public Health did not comment on the claims, and Pasadena’s spokesperson said the city has not been served with the lawsuit and couldn’t respond.

Conditions have put tenants between a rock and a hard place, Silver explained. Because some landlords are refusing to pay for the professional, certified remediation necessary to address toxins imbedded in places like walls and insulation, renters are having to make a choice.

Some have moved back in to unclean units and have begun experiencing health issues, Silver said, because they can’t afford to move elsewhere. Others are still living in temporary quarters, or in their cars, or paying two rents at once in order to keep their Altadena and Pasadena places, because they’re ultimately more affordable.

“We’ve also heard stories of tenants paying out of pocket at extremely high cost for testing just to confirm the toxic levels of lead and other contaminants that we know are present,” Silver said.

Brenda Lyon, a tenant in Pasadena, asked her landlord to file a homeowner’s claim in order to bring in a qualified remediation team, but they refused. Instead, she and her husband paid out of pocket for the work, expecting reimbursement from the landlord.

“I called every politician’s office, every city office,” Lyon said. “I was advised to file a code compliance, so I did, (but) the code compliance was denied, stating my problem was a civil issue.

“A habitable premise, per the state of California, is a right of a tenant,” she said, “so why would no one in the city make that happen for me?”

When she and her husband again approached the landlord about filing a homeowner’s claim so the couple could be reimbursed, they were told No and that, if they didn’t like it, they could move.

“We need our city to have our back, so that we can all move back in safely,” Lyon said.

Katie Clark, a founder of Altadena Tenant Union, who lost her rental home of 15 years to the Eaton fire, said she speaks with people every day that are still displaced, are living in unclean facilities, have been hit with illegal rent hikes, or are a step away from being homeless because their money is dwindling as they cover the cost of temporary housing.

“Throughout all of this, Los Angeles County has been virtually silent when it comes to the plight of tenants,” she said.

Many, Clark said, are people of modest means who rely on rent-controlled apartments to get by.

“The county has consistently passed the buck and shrugged off its responsibilities, telling tenants, ‘You’re on your own,’” she said.

“We’ve been told there’s nothing the County can do,” she said. “We know that’s not true … Just because we don’t own property doesn’t mean we’re not part of this community.”

Silver and the legal teams from both groups intend to make both Pasadena and L.A. County meet their obligations.

“The County and City must immediately provide adequate inspections of rental units with smoke, soot and ash damage caused by the Eaton fire and do it in a manner that actually ensures the health and safety of tenants,” Silver said. “They must cite property owners for any damage and they must require property owners to remediate that damage promptly and thoroughly to eliminate any health risks.”

Jarret Liotta is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and photographer.