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By Julie BUTCHER

After months of debate and deliberation, on Tuesday night the Glendale City Council passed a Right-to-Lease measure to replace the rent freeze implemented in December, a compromise aimed at protecting tenants against unchecked exorbitant rent hikes while respecting the rights and interests of the City’s landlords.

“This is a complicated issue. The real solution is more housing, and we intend to work on that, but on this we want to be compassionate and fair to everyone,” Councilmember Vraj Agajanian observed as the council began its final deliberations on the fine details of the proposed ordinance. “It looks like everyone’s unhappy about this, so maybe we’ve reached a good compromise.”

Councilmember Paula Devine echoed his remarks.

“As always, I want to thank everyone for coming out and sharing their opinions. I know that we’ve been accused of turning our backs on our tenants,” she said. “The fact is that we’re trying to face this head on. With the subsidy program we talked about tonight, I feel like we’re taking a step forward.”

“This is not going to be perfect,” she continued. “We cannot let perfect be the enemy of good. We’re trying to do good. My goal is to increase stability and protections for tenants while working to reach a fine balance and being fair to our landlords, many of who have worked their entire lifetimes to buy these properties. We’re taking this very seriously.”

As ultimately adopted, landlords are free to increase rents as they wish. For rent hikes higher than 7%, tenants who opt to move instead of paying the increased rents will now be eligible for relocation funds, starting at three times the actual rent for renters in three- and four-unit buildings, up to six times the proposed rent for all other apartments built before 1995, according to a sliding scale based on length of residency and family income. The new law also requires landlords to offer a one-year lease to their tenants at the time of a rent increase and adds notification requirements outside those required by state law.

Mayor Pro Tem Vartan Gharpetian led the three-member body through the details, after Mayor Zareh Sinanyan and Councilmember Ara Najarian recused themselves, summarizing the long history of the issue.

“Three-and-a-half years ago, we had the same conversation and three years later, we’re still talking about it. If we’d done something about it then, we’d be having a different discussion,” Gharpetian said. “When the high-rises were being built, we talked about it. More housing is coming, inclusionary housing, like Pasadena did 10 years ago. The subsidy we’re talking about is good, but we can’t help everyone. We want to focus on those most in need.”

Gharpetian called for a vote on the ordinance that passed unanimously and will go into effect on March 1.

The subsidy program discussed by the Council would be a small monthly amount focused on providing housing assistance to local Glendale residents who meet a series of qualifications to participate, including being over 62, unable to work, and low-income; city staff was tasked with working out details for a program that would potentially help up to 1,000 families utilizing Measure S funding once revenue from the sales tax increase starts to come in, anticipated to be starting in July.

Also during the meeting, local members of Soroptimist International of Glendale announced two upcoming events: a forum on human trafficking on Feb. 26 at 12:30 p.m. at Glendale Community College and its 16th annual Bras for a Cause fundraiser on March 30 at Glen Arden. The group brought decorated bras to the meeting to focus awareness on breast cancer prevention. The Soroptimists of Glendale are part of a “global volunteer organization working to improve the lives of women and girls through programs leading to social and economic empowerment.”

Local professor Dan Brotman addressed the Council during the open comments, lauding the actions of Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti in his announcement that LA would be abandoning plans to invest in gas to power its coastal power plants and urging Glendale to revisit its Grayson plans.

“Do we really want Glendale to be the only utility in the state moving further into natural gas instead of exploring good alternatives?” he asked.

  Julie BUTCHER