Tenants Get City to Crack Down on Mission SRO

Beyond the basic housing code violations, the hotel’s landlord (who operates a head shop downstairs) has allowed the property to be a security hazard. For many years, there was no resident manager – although state law requires all buildings with 16 or more units to have one. The front gate downstairs didn’t lock, as vagrants from the street could traipse in and use the bathroom. There were three drug overdoses in the hotel in the past month, and a murder on the sidewalk right in front of the building.

“Security issues have led to rampant crime in the building that endangers the tenants,” said Deputy City Attorney Jerry Threet. “A small minority of tenants have been involved, but I attribute that to the lack of proper hotel management.” Simply put, the landlord needed to take control of his own building.

The tenants are mostly Latino immigrants – undocumented workers who work full-time in housekeeping or in the restaurant business. At a given time, there have been up to four families with children living in the building. One family moved out when the youngest child started crawling around the hotel and they were concerned about his safety.

Read More
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=3735#more