RENTERS CALL ON COUNCIL FOR AID GLENDALE MAY MAKE IT HARDER TO EVICT.

Byline: Nick Grudin Staff Writer

GLENDALE - The last time Glendale resident Lindy Hays came before the City Council to complain about her landlord, she said she was given a 30-day notice of eviction the very next morning.

At Tuesday night's Glendale City Council meeting, Hays, who has lived in her Glendale apartment for 11 years, and her partner Jon Sherman held up a sign that read, ``My apartment is my home.''

The council introduced an ordinance Tuesday that will make it more difficult for landlords to evict their tenants.

As it stands now, Hays said, Glendale tenants are so afraid of retaliatory evictions that they were considering attending Tuesday's meeting in masks to ensure their anonymity, but the city vetoed the idea.

``We don't want to set the precedent of wearing masks. We want to maintain accountability,'' Councilman Bob Yousefian said.

Glendale tenants made their first step toward what the council called a more fair eviction policy that would require landlords to provide just cause in order to evict.

Retaliatory evictions are illegal under state law, but tenants contend that proving evictions are retaliatory is a difficult task for those who cannot afford lawyers.

``How can you prove what someone was thinking?'' Hays said.

Hays said she will be in court Friday to fight her eviction, which she claims was purely retaliatory.

Tuesday night, City Council members heard accounts from other tenants who claim to have been evicted unlawfully and had no recourse once it happened.

Already upset about rent hikes, Glendale tenants say that they live in fear of making any type of complaint, worried that evictions will follow.

``Two-thirds of Glendale's residents rent ... they are not at liberty and they really do live in fear,'' said Ken Carlson, who founded the Glendale Tenant Association.

Glendale property values have climbed for the past four years and without rent control, many residents are having trouble paying their rent, according to Sam Engel, Glendale's neighborhood services administrator.

In that climate of hiked-up rents and few vacancies, tenants contend that when they complain about routine problems, such as faucet leaks or broken air-conditioners, they may face retaliatory eviction.

Some landlords still strongly oppose the idea of adding a city ordinance that would shift the burden of proving just cause for evictions from tenants to landlords, arguing that a sufficient state law already exists.

``If this ordinance passes, the best thing for (landlords) would be to sell our property in Glendale and buy property elsewhere,'' said Margaret Hammond, a Glendale landlord and 42-year resident.

Tenants lack faith in the state's requirements and are demanding that the city take action. After almost a year of hearing tenant complaints, the council unanimously decided to move on the issue, introducing the ordinance to be voted on next week.

``This is the United States of America and we should not get to the point where people are in fear of coming here to speak out. ... The good landlords will have no problem with this,'' Yousefian said.