The city of Los Angeles has lost 21,200 rent- stabilized housing units since 2001, according to an interactive map released Monday by a nonprofit tenant advocacy group.
The Coalition for Economic Survival produced the map in conjunction with the San Francisco-based Anti-Eviction Mapping Project to show where units have been lost through Ellis Act evictions that allow landlords to exit the rental market under certain conditions.
The pace of such evictions is quickening, according the CES, which reported that L.A. saw nearly 300 Ellis Act Eviction application filings by landlords and developers during the first quarter of 2017.
“After mapping Ellis Act evictions in San Francisco and analyzing their devastating effects, we have long wanted to visualize their growth in Los Angeles. But it wasn’t until we began mapping the LA Ellis Act data that we had any idea how grave the eviction crisis is in L.A., and which areas are being most impacted,” said Erin Mcel, co-director or the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project.
Numerous studies have found that due to a lack of available units, rental prices have risen steadily in recent years and the city is one of the least affordable in the country to live in.
Members of the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Eric Garcetti have openly acknowledged the problem, and the council has passed a number of motions aimed at keeping or creating affordable housing, including an ordinance that was passed this month legalizing some previously unpermitted apartments in multi-family buildings.
“The housing crisis facing Los Angeles is one of the most severe in the nation. With this map, we are now able to visually see how the Ellis Act has ravaged our city’s affordable rent controlled housing stock,” said CES Executive Director Larry Gross.
—City News Service