[img]2122|right|Mehaul OLeary||no_popup[/img]As a businessman, homeowner and elected official for the past six years, Mehaul O’Leary’s staunch opposition to rent control probably is typical among his City Council colleagues.
The combative matter of rent control is in the air again this week in Culver City following the recent birth of Shireen Daytona’s new movement, www.CulverCityRentControl.com, to bring the concept to this community.
Rent control became a topic of very short-term concern last summer when Ms. Daytona announced to the Council that two tenants had died, unexpectedly, shortly after they were informed of huge rent increases.
Does Councilman O’Leary have feelings about rent control?
“I have concerns about people dying because of rent increases,” he said. “That is my concern. If there are people on fixed incomes who are being displaced, and it is not possible for them to find any place to live, then there must be a process.
How It Could Work
“There could be a process – I have said this in the past – I don’t care where they go,” Mr. O’Leary said. “If it is San Bernardino (often employed as comparable to Culver City), as long as they have similar services around them, and similar rent, there must be a way for landlords to pay for moving them there and getting them into a similar place.”
Is a form of rent control feasible in Culver City in the next 18 months?
“You are using a term, ‘rent control,’ that I am not talking about,” Mr. O’Leary said. “I am talking about the buyer of a property who sees value in turning it over, increasing the rent to today’s value, and by displacing these people, he will see a huge difference in income from that property.
“I look at it this way: If someone is on a fixed income, can we categorize them in some fair way, not just anybody who happens to be unemployed? I am talking about somebody who perhaps is mentally or physically handicapped, if they were in such a position, we should be required, as a society, to look after them in some way, to get them into other housing.
“Do they need to live in Culver City?” Mr. O’Leary asked. “They probably would like to live in Culver City. But that is not the point. We would like them to live.
“When the two deaths came to my attention last summer, I thought about it, and then somehow, the press or others decided Mehaul is looking to bring in rent control.
“Even in cities where rent control was founded, they are looking to change the rules. They are seeing rent control is not working.”
