Evictions

The Chinese government has started eviction proceedings against six longtime residents of downtown Los Angeles' Clark Hotel, but the move may break rent-stabilization laws, city officials said Friday. While the Chinese justified the evictions in papers filed at City Hall by stating that they are permanently removing the rooms from use, officials say that simply converting the rooms into higher-priced accommodations may make the evictions illegal.

Police evicted about 140 mainly African squatters, some sobbing or screaming, from two dilapidated buildings Friday as authorities began a sweep of dwellings deemed fire hazards. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy ordered 60 such buildings closed, after two recent blazes killed dozens of African immigrants this year in the French capital and focused attention on substandard housing. Police on Friday opened an arson investigation into one of the fires, which killed 17 people last week.

City Atty. James Hahn has announced a program to evict drug dealers from apartment buildings, a weapon in the war on drugs made possible by a new state law. Last week, the City Council approved $170,410 to fund a narcotics eviction team that will target neighborhoods already getting attention from the city's narcotics abatement unit, Hahn said.

City Atty. James Hahn has announced a program to evict drug dealers from apartment buildings, a new weapon in the war on drugs made possible by a new statelaw. The City Council last week approved $170,410 to fund a new Narcotics Eviction Team that will target neighborhoods already getting attention from the city's FALCON narcotics abatement unit, Hahn said.

Esther Walton and Shi-Chin Tung burn in isolated middle-aged frustration. Were they to meet, they might appreciate the other's position, but politically this is daydreaming. Their lives have been too warped by experience. Walton, 63, lives alone in a $241-a-month, one-bedroom apartment with a water-stained ceiling in Venice, three blocks from the ocean. Her rent is remarkably low because she has lived there 10 years; only small annual increases have been permitted by Los Angeles' rent control law. The Westside real estate binge has barely touched her. Another one-bedroom unit in the complex, recently decontrolled when a tenant left, goes for $695.

Downey Municipal Court is one of four in the state that is participating in a new pilot program to speed evictions through court. Under the program, which started this week, delinquent tenants fighting eviction will have about two weeks to deposit a half-month's rent with the court during a special hearing if they wish to fight their eviction in a trial.

The county expects to start approving up to $1 million in no-interest loans within the next six weeks for residents in danger of eviction. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved four nonprofit organizations as disbursers of the money. One-time loans of up to $2,000 per household will be made available to anyone having trouble making a rent payment or security deposit. The loans are part of a program designed to prevent homelessness in Orange County, Supervisor Harriett M.

President Clinton signed a bill into law Thursday to protect current nursing home residents from being evicted or forced to move solely because they rely on Medicaid to pay their bills. "This law closes a legal loophole that allows nursing homes to evict their most vulnerable residents. It puts patients ahead of profits," said Rep. Michael Bilirakis (R-Fla.), a sponsor of the bipartisan legislation.

The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill to prevent nursing homes from evicting destitute elderly residents covered by Medicaid to make way for patients who can afford higher charges. The bill was sponsored by Florida lawmakers after a Tampa, Fla., nursing home last year tried to kick out 53 Medicaid patients when it decided to stop participating in the federal heath care program for indigent patients.

An Orange County assemblyman has dropped legislation aimed at helping residents of a coastal trailer park stave off eviction in the face of state plans to make the site a public campground. Republican Chuck DeVore of Irvine had introduced two bills to extend tenant leases at El Morro Village Mobile Home Park, a quaint beachfront enclave in Crystal Cove State Park, for 10 to 30 years.