County OKs plan to move tenants

Los Angeles County supervisors unanimously approved a plan Tuesday to relocate the few remaining residents of the blighted Ujima Village subsidized housing complex in Willowbrook within 90 days, but they turned down housing officials’ appeal for eviction powers.

Citing contamination concerns, county housing officials had urged supervisors to give them the authority to evict those reluctant to leave. But some of the 14 remaining Ujima residents and a lawyer from the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles told supervisors that county housing officials had failed to help them find and pay for equivalent housing as required by federal law.

“The law requires that people be relocated to a place that is comparable and decent and safe and that there be some additional oversight because to date, that has not happened,” said Louis Rafti, housing attorney with the Legal Aid Foundation who has been working with Ujima residents since June.

Residents said housing officials pressured their former Ujima neighbors to move into smaller apartments in more dangerous areas -- options that remaining tenants said were unacceptable.

“We were a close-knit family here and everything’s been torn apart,” said Faye Tolliver, 46, a special education aide who has lived at Ujima for 25 years. “These people have left us over here.”

In November, supervisors ordered the county housing authority to close Ujima Village and begin relocating residents after tests showed potentially dangerous soil and water contamination at the 16-acre complex, a former oil tank storage yard for what is now Exxon Mobil.

Ujima Village was built in 1972 by a group of African American architects and developers with a mortgage underwritten by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. At its peak, the grassy complex of 34 stucco buildings housed more than 600 people in 300 one- to four-bedroom apartments.

HUD took over the complex in 1990, and the county bought it from HUD for $1 in 1995. When the county attempted to sell the property in 2004, testing by potential developers revealed soil and water contamination serious enough to warrant relocating tenants, housing officials said.

Housing officials told supervisors that they’d hired a consulting firm to help residents find at least three comparable apartments within five miles of Ujima Village and gave them more than a year to move.

“The housing authority is taking every prudent step to look out for the welfare of the residents in Ujima Village,” said Corde Carrillo, acting executive director of the housing authority.

After hearing from residents, 2nd District Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who represents the area that includes Ujima Village, backed approving the 90-day relocation plan but changed the proposal to postpone the eviction orders. He also proposed that after the complex is emptied and demolished and environmental testing is completed, the land might be added to the nearby Earvin “Magic” Johnson Recreation Area.

Ridley-Thomas spoke with residents after the meeting and promised to work with them to address their concerns. Residents who said they had received little help from Ridley-Thomas’ staff after he was elected in November said they were optimistic that since meeting them, he would help.

“I believe he’ll handle things,” Tolliver said.

--

molly.hennessy-[email protected]