Officials of the City of Lancaster in the high desert area of Los Angeles County has been waging a war against low-income African Section 8 rent subsidy tenants for some time in an effort to rid the city of poor tenants of color. Coalition for Economic Survival Exec Dir debates the Lancaster Mayor on KTLK radio.

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Friday, March 16, 2012

Officials of the City of Lancaster in the high desert area of Los Angeles County has been waging a war against low-income Section 8 rent subsidy tenants for some time. Lancaster officials have attempted to reduce the number of its Section 8 tenants by accusing them of being responsible for crime in the area, hiring housing aut   hority  inspectors to intimidate and harass them and attempting to pass laws to deny business licenses to landlords who accept Section 8 vouchers. These actions have created an atmosphere of fear for low income tenants and has even result in physical attacks to Section 8 renters.

Civil rights groups have filed discrimination suits against Lancaster, the Los Angeles County Bound of Supervisors have eliminated funds of the additional housing inspectors and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development has threatened to cut hundreds of thousand of dollars in federal funds to the city.

Now Lancaster has out done its previous actions. The city has filed a complaint alleging Los Angeles County and its housing authority unlawfully favor African Americans when granting vouchers for Section 8 housing.

 

Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross debated Lancaster Mayor Rex Parris on Lancaster's latest attempt to rid the city of Section 8 tenants on Friday, March 16, 2012 on the David Cruz radio program heard on KTLK 1150 am between 3 and 6 p.m.

Gross states that the city's action, "brings racism to new heights, or rather new lows." Gross charges that, "Lancaster officials seem to be wishing that their city was located in 1963 Mississippi, , instead of 2012 LA County."

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Larry Gross is the Executive Director of the Coalition for Economic Survival (CES). He has been with CES for 42 years, since its inception in 1973.

CES is a grassroots, multi-racial, multi-ethnic tenants' rights organization serving low and moderate income renters throughout the greater Los Angeles area. CES is committed to organizing tenants to fight to ensure tenants' rights and preserve affordable housing.

Among CES' impressive track record of empowering tenants, securing concrete tenants' rights victories & new laws, and achieving institutional change include leading campaigns to win rent control in the cities of Los Angeles and West Hollywood. CES also led the effort to incorporate the City of West Hollywood and elected CES tenant leaders to the City Council.

Larry was a member of the Los Angeles City Housing Crisis Task Force and served as the chair of its State of Existing Affordable Housing Sub-committee.

He was appointed by the Mayor and Chairperson of the L.A. City Council Housing and Community Development Committee to serve on the Advisory Committee for the Study of the Economic Impact of Major Rehabilitation Evictions.

Larry was a member of L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti's Slum Housing Task Force was an appointee to the City Rent Stabilization Ordinance Study Oversight Committee by the L.A. City Council.

He serves on the Board of Directors of the ACLU/Southern California, Tenants Together and the Healthy Homes Collaborative.

In 2014, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed Larry to the LA Board of Animal Services Commission. In July 2015 he was elected Board Vice President.

In January 2012, Larry was appointed by the California Public Utilities Commission to its Low Income Oversight Board.