Rep. Gomez Calls on California Department of Justice to Open Investigation Into Potential Management Improprieties at Cathay Manor
Statement
Dear Attorney General Bonta,
I write to request that you open an investigation into potential improprieties stemming from the
mismanagement of Cathay Manor Apartments (Cathay Manor), a 16-story, 270-unit residential
building for low-income seniors in the Chinatown neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles, by
the Chinese Community on Aging (C.C.O.A.) Housing Corporation and its Chief Executive
Officer and President, Don G. Toy.
The C.C.O.A. Housing Corp. is a California domestic nonprofit that has owned Cathay Manor
and operated it as affordable housing since 1984. The property was developed with financing
through the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Section 202 Supportive
Housing for the Elderly program and currently contracts with the agency to receive project-based
Section 8 rental assistance.
This fall, my office was alerted to unconscionable living conditions at Cathay Manor, which I
recently observed firsthand and can only mildly describe as the product of brazen neglect and a
stunning lack of humanity by Mr. Toy and the C.C.O.A. Housing Corporation. The building's
deficiencies include inoperable elevators that have left elderly and disabled tenants sequestered
in their units, a shuttered laundry facility, pest infestations, and various health and safety hazards
-- each more egregious than the next. Mr. Toy has failed to maintain common spaces and units in
habitable conditions, despite collecting $3.5 million a year in rent, nearly $2.6 million of which
are from HUD subsidies.
My staff and I have been working closely with residents, community advocates, and local leaders
to find accountability and quickly resolve these issues. Unfortunately, these efforts have been
stymied in part by the lack of transparency with which Mr. Toy has operated the C.C.O.A.
Housing Corp. I respectfully ask for an investigation into the finances of the C.C.O.A Housing
Corp. and your assistance in uncovering any wrongdoing so elderly and disabled residents can
access safe, comfortable housing and resume living with the dignity they deserve.
Sincerely
Source