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Hey, remember six months ago when I dissected a big corporate landlord's highly questionable use of the Ellis Act against nearly 600 renters? Yeah, there's more to the story.
I am firmly in favor of helping homeless Angelenos get into safe housing. However, Inside Safe was intended to make use of the city's countless hotel rooms and NOT its shrinking supply of RSO apartm
If you're reading this, you probably have some idea of what the short-term rental epidemic has done to LA - especially to vulnerable renters. Here's the thing: you can speak up and tell City Council
I HAD TO DO EACH ENTRY BY HAND. There are download buttons for Excel and CSV, which would have allowed me to download the records and upload them to Google Maps quickly BUT NEITHER OF THEM WORKED.
Roofs collapsed. Air conditioners broke. (Again, Otsego is in North Hollywood and this happened in August, when Valley temperatures can easily break 100 degrees.) Tenants reported serious mold
These fires have consequences. They pose a danger to neighboring homes (fires spread far too easily), they pollute, they can kill or severely injure someone, and I for one don't think it's right for
Beyond Baroque is currently presenting Where Has All the (affordable) Housing Gone? In Search of Lost Rent-Control Housing in Venice. More than 270 rent-controlled buildings have vanished from the
Do the tenants still live there? Do they know they're likely to be displaced? Will the property have any replacement affordable units? (There's always a solid chance the answer to that will be no.)
You heard it here first, folks: squatters set NINE FIRES (give or take) and the city pretty much ignored MULTIPLE requests for help. (Except LAFD.)
On August 5, yet another fire took out the back house at the rear of the property. The city STILL did nothing. The neighbors reached out to their councilmember, Kevin de Léon, MONTHS AGO and
Los Angeles is not known for its journalism. I can think of several news outlets that have been getting steadily worse for years. But there is hope: independent newsrooms are doing some very good
Two city-owned houses, one in Willowbrook and one in Chesterfield Square, are slated to be sold. I'm really hoping they sell to people who need homes and not some developer with friends in City Hall.
Additionally, the Ellis Act is not, and has never been, necessary. Landlords who no longer wish to be landlords have always had the option of selling their rental properties with tenants in place
In theory, the Ellis Act allows small landlords to exit the rental business. In practice, it's not that simple, and it's abused far too often.
The city passed ordinances under the guise of managing the STR problems, none of which seem to have ever been enforced. As we've recently seen from the Lourine Court saga, unenforced laws are useless.
Take special notice of that last bit: leaving the basement. Basements are RARE in Los Angeles, and California has very stringent building codes due to earthquakes. Leaving an old basement in place
"...not talking to us. Tarek El Moussa is filming promos in front of Arthur's arson to pitch to investors this opportunity. The only thing the city did after the two arsons was expedite his permits."
Had the owner kept the property occupied or at least properly secured it, there's a good chance the house would not have had that fire. Instead, firefighters had to knock it down (with taxpayers footi
A former hostel coming back from abatement and becoming housing for vulnerable young people? I love to see it. More of this, please.
It looks more like a long-abandoned motel than an apartment complex in Los Feliz. (All pictures were provided by the neighbor, who will not be named because they are concerned about retaliation.)
I was shocked and dismayed to find out that the RSO apartments on the Yamashiro property were being misused as hotel rooms - and that the illegal hotel rooms have been operating for about 20 years.
Insurance companies and the city have miserably failed the affected families, some of whom are still unable to return to their empty, if not destroyed, homes. None of this would ever be allowed to
The Hotel Clark and the Morrison Hotel, both built in 1914, have had similar story arcs. Both were built as hotels, later became SROs as downtown's fortunes waned, lost all their tenants due to
Incredibly, the property has never been developed (a rarity in a built-up part of LA). The pillars go back to a Recession-era plan that was never completed. The current owner wants to add a mixed
I am thrilled to see this home coming back to life, and it will graduate from the map once it's rented. If you are interested in living there, here's the listing.
There are several abated or empty hotels and motels on the map. The 108 Motel in South LA is a particularly bad one, perhaps even the worst. According to reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray, the motel has been
City leaders have largely ignored Boyle Heights, one of the city's oldest neighborhoods, for decades. Residents' requests for repairs and cleanups are often disregarded.
I have found real-estate listings from Beverly Hills to San Pedro, listing houses as active Airbnbs booked months in advance. I have seen proof of greedy hosts taking RSO apartments off the rental
The code-enforcement history I found in ZIMAS calls the court an "abandoned or vacant building left open to the public." It's been empty since at least 2006, possibly earlier.
There's a misconception that empty, and especially empty and damaged, homes only exist in bad neighborhoods. Peruse the abated buildings list and after a page or two, you may notice that there are
It sounds like an urbanist's dream. But it was, and still is, missing something that was unwise to omit in Southern California: fire sprinklers. Less than a decade after the first residents moved in
Earlier this year, I reached out to several City departments on a quest for vacancy data. Knowing what I know about housing misuse and buildings being left empty