A group of Hollywood artists claimed Wednesday their affordable housing complex for creatives isn’t living up to its promises, including to keep the rent low.
The Hollywood Arts Collective opened last Spring, offering 150 apartments near Hollywood Boulevard and Cahuenga Boulevard with the goal of providing affordable housing with amenities and creative space for working artists, including photographs, writers, dancers, musicians and actors.
The apartment is on land provided by the city of Los Angeles and funded in part through the Low-incoming Housing Tax Credit program while rent payments are supposed to pay for operational costs.
“We moved in because we thought this was going to be affordable, but if they just keep increasing the rent over and over, it’s not going to be affordable,” said Jia Marques, a photographer and resident at the Hollywood Arts Collective.
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Marques also claimed the developers and property managers, Thomas Safran and Associates are pricing them out.
“There are some people who have a three-bedroom for $800, and there are some people that have a one-bedroom for $2,000,” Marques said.
While tenants claim that they had been given verbal agreements that there would be no rent increase in the first year, and the following year’s rent will involve a 2% to 3% increase, they were notified of a 7% increase in August.
But the property management company insists so much promise was made.
According to Jordan Pynes, the president of Thomas Safran and Associates, the lease terms clearly stated that there would be rent increases, and they did not specify how much. This is allowed under the terms of the Low-income Housing Tax Credit program.
“We feel for the struggling community, but unfortunately the demand for zero rent increase in perpetuity is just not realistic,” Pynes said.
Tenants are asking the rent increase to be reversed or for other entities such as the Entertainment community Fund to help cover the extra costs.
