The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, in collaboration with the Coalition for Economic Survival, has released an eye-popping map that reveals disturbing trends of tenant evictions through an abused state law known as the Ellis Act. It’s an indispensable tool for residents and community activists — and policymakers.
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http://2preservela.org/anti-eviction-mapping-project-shows-shocking-eviction-trends-los-angeles/
Anti-Eviction Mapping Project Shows Shocking Eviction Trends in L.A.
by Patrick Range McDonald
July 3, 2017
The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, in collaboration with the Coalition for Economic Survival, has released an eye-popping map that reveals disturbing trends of tenant evictions through an abused state law known as the Ellis Act. It’s an indispensable tool for residents and community activists — and policymakers.
Go to the Los Angeles Ellis Act map.
Based in the Bay Area, the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project has been rolling out invaluable information about evictions, development and gentrification in Northern California. Earlier this year, the project teamed up with Los Angeles’ Coalition for Economic Survival and unveiled a shocking map of mass Ellis Act evictions in L.A. between 2001 and 2017. A total of 21,494 units were impacted, and the number of people is much higher — more than one person lived in many of those dwellings.
The Ellis Act allows landlords in California to evict tenants so they can get out of the rental housing business. It became state law in 1985, and was named after one-time California state senator James Ellis.
Over the years, affordable housing and rent control advocates say landlords and developers have abused the law, evicting tenants so they can demolish an apartment building or convert it into pricey condominiums. The result has been displaced residents and less rental housing, which exacerbates L.A.’s affordable housing crisis.
Such tactics by developers and landlords were first widely used in the Bay Area, and then became more prevalent in Southern California.
During Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s two terms in office (July 2005 to July 2013), a whopping 9,455 Ellis Act eviction notices were filed by landlords or developers, according to the Los Angeles Ellis Act map. That startling trend didn’t slow down during the first term of L.A.’s current mayor, Eric Garcetti. Between July 2013 and March 2017, according to the map, 4,193 Ellis Act eviction notices were filed.
Garcetti was re-elected in March 2017, and recently celebrated the start of his second term. Known for his lobbying trips to Washington D.C., the mayor should be a regular presence at the state capitol in Sacramento, strongly advocating for Ellis Act reform, if not repeal. L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson and Council member and Planning and Land Use Management Committee chairman Jose Huizar should join Garcetti.
In fact, Garcetti, Wesson and Huizar should show the Ellis Act map by the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project to state legislators.
In the meantime, the map supplies essential data to residents and community activists who want to take action and demand that the City Council and mayor must take a pro-active role in reforming the Ellis Act.
Go to the Los Angeles Ellis Act map.
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Original: Anti-Eviction Mapping Project Shows Shocking Eviction Trends in L.A.