James Li Exposes Public Housing Scam

Housing scams of all stripes are sadly not unusual in Los Angeles (or anywhere, really).

Independent journalist James Li just exposed one that tends to fly under the radar. (Special thanks to reader Ivan for tugging my sleeve to James’ work.)

Many landlords receive certain incentives for subsidized and rent-restricted housing. According to James’ sources, some of them collect nonrefundable application fees for months - even years - on end, never actually filling the vacant unit.

And in the process, they can end up collecting about three times the advertised rent rate!

Watch the video here. I can’t say I was especially surprised, since I’ve heard anecdotal evidence of similar experiences before.

If you’re new here, I was a property manager. Application fees are normal. Pocketing the money with no intention of ever renting out the unit should NOT be normal. My boss did not believe in leaving units empty for longer than it took to make any repairs, do a deep clean, repaint, and change the locks. (The $25 application fee covered background and credit checks - nothing else.)

It may be time to discuss revoking those incredibly generous incentives and assessing punitive vacancy taxes for landlords who deliberately do this. How is it not considered fraud? A vacancy rate of 13 percent for affordable housing should not be the case in Los Angeles, least of all in the midst of a housing crisis.