SANTA MONICA—Disabled Santa Monica resident, Zandra St. James, 72, filed a complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, March 9 against her landlord, Barbara Bills, alleging that she violated state law by refusing to accept her housing choice voucher to offset her monthly rent. As a result of her complaint,  St. James faces eviction.

St. James has lived in Santa Monica in her rent-controlled studio for 38 years. Her rent has now risen to more than 90 percent of her monthly Social Security income. After being awarded a housing voucher in 2019,  St. James sought to use the voucher to pay her rent. The complaint alleges that Bills refused to accept the voucher.

The housing choice voucher program, often referred to as “Section 8,” provides tenant-based rental assistance. Low-income tenants who receive housing choice vouchers pay 30 percent of their monthly income to the landlord for rent. Local housing authorities, which administer the program, pay the remainder directly to the landlord.

“The housing choice voucher program is designed to expand housing opportunities for low-income renters of all kinds,” said Denise McGranahan, Senior Attorney with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, which represents St. James. “If Ms. St. James’ landlord is able to refuse her voucher, she will be priced out of one of the few below-market units left in Santa Monica. The voucher is her lifeline to stay in her long-term home and to continue to live independently in the community.”

Quiddle Q. of Santa Monica reviewed Bills as a landlord on Yelp stating:

“Barbara Bills is a slum lord. Be sure to get an attorney once you have moved into one of her properties. Just ask any of the tenants who have been there over 5 years, they can help you. She charged me to have the unit re-keyed for the new tenant, and a “standard” cleaning fee which was not mentioned in the lease and fees. For the late arrival of rent checks, she provided everyone in our building the incorrect mailing address for sending the checks when she moved her office. Please note that she goes by several names “Barbara Bills” and “Barbara Kwasnicki” and that WIB Holdings, LLC is NOT BBB Accredited. At one point, her rating was C-.”

Rachel S. of Santa Monica reviewed Bills as a landlord on Yelp stating:

“I don’t know if there is any way to truly describe how awful this company and it’s owner.
One of my first questions upon viewing an apartment in West LA was: is the building smoke free?  It was confirmed “yes”, and the biggest section in the lease is about how it’s a non-smoking building.  When a chain smoker moved in above me, WIB Holdings did not enforce the clause in the lease, and we ended up in a lawsuit.  We ended up settling out of court, solely because my lawyer was afraid of her bully of a lawyer. Afterward, in an attempt to try and regain some of her loss on the settlement, she decided to wrongfully withhold some of my deposit.  Barbara Bills, the founder of this company, truly is not an ethical or moral person. She’s had to change her company’s name multiple times within the last few years to circumvent negative reviews.”

The complaint names the defendants of the case apartment building owner, WIB Holdings, Inc. and Barbara Bills. The city of Santa Monica has also sued Bills and WIB Holdings for the discriminatory refusal to accept St. James voucher.