Confidence In LA Skid Row Housing Trust Receiver Slips Further After Eviction Notices Sent To Tenants

A court-appointed receiver charged with righting the Skid Row Housing Trust's holdings is under further scrutiny after serving some tenants with eviction notices.

City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto said the notices are illegal, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Skid Row Housing Trust's tenants, as formerly unhoused people, are "incredibly vulnerable," Feldstein Soto said, and called the distribution of the notices "unacceptable." At least one tenant who received a notice was in arrears less than $60.

The notices that were sent told tenants they were to pay rent immediately or leave their homes, or else face eviction proceedings. The receiver, Mark Adams, promised in court documents relating to his appointment as receiver not to evict a tenant for overdue rent only, the LA Times said. 

Skid Row Housing Trust's 29 low-income housing buildings in Downtown were placed into public receivership in April, after the nonprofit said it could not continue operations. 

Adams acknowledged the notices were a mistake, saying he circulated a letter to all 1,500 SRHT tenants clarifying that the notices were sent in error and that failure to pay rent alone would not be grounds for eviction while he was overseeing the properties. 

The apparent mix-up is just the latest in a string of events that have chipped away at confidence in the court-appointed receiver tasked with the challenge of returning the buildings to habitable conditions.

“We believed that this receiver had both the liquidity and the experience and expertise to quickly get on top of and manage the situation,” Feldstein Soto told the LA Times. “I think it’s fair to say we’ve been disappointed.”