Hollywoodians Encouraging Rental Opportunities v. City of L. A.

*772 Plaintiffs and appellants Hollywoodians Encouraging Rental Opportunities (HERO), Sylvie Shain (Shain), and Max Blonde (Blonde) (sometimes collectively referred to as HERO) appeal a judgment denying their petition for writ of mandate. HERO's petition sought to set aside actions taken by defendants and respondents City of Los Angeles, City Council of the City of Los Angeles (City Council), and Central Los Angeles Area Planning Commission (Commission) (collectively, the City) in approving a proposal by real parties in interest and respondents Millennium Settlement Consulting/1850 North Cherokee, LLC, Lesser Investment Company, L.P., and David Lesser (collectively, the owner) to convert a vacant 18-unit apartment building into a boutique hotel.

In this case involving the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) ( *111 Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq. ), 1 the essential issue presented is *773 whether the City erred in failing to prepare an environmental impact report (EIR) to assess the loss of affordable housing and displacement of tenants that would result from the conversion of the former apartment building into a hotel.

Because the building at issue had been…