Last May, more than 20 Los Angeles tenants celebrated wildly in City Hall: the City Council had just voted to try to buy their 124-unit building from their landlord, potentially saving them from rent increases of as much as 300%.
The council authorized the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) to appraise the Hillside Villa building in Chinatown and then make an offer to purchase it. But more than six months later, no appraisal has been conducted and no offer has been made. The tenants who celebrated in May could find themselves facing eviction after pandemic eviction protections expire at the end of the month.
