Malcolm X famously said “you show me a capitalist, I’ll show you a bloodsucker.” But Steven Taylor is truly something special.

In February of 2016, an LLC run by Taylor bought the 42-unit rent-controlled building at 6565 Fountain Ave. in Hollywood for .2 million. In September of 2017, the building was sold for .75 million — a profit of over .5 million in just a year-and-a-half. A news article covering the sale states that 26 units were vacant, and none had yet been renovated.

The struggle of the Waverly Tenants in Silverlake suggests that the families of these 26 units may not have happily left on their own accord. At Waverly, 30 of the 36 tenants have now fled after what many describe as a prolonged and dirty campaign by Taylor to get them out.

Taylor himself has made it clear his profits come from removing tenants protected by LA’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO). Speaking of an RSO building in Los Feliz he flipped within a year for a profit of .8 million, he explained that “our underlying strategy for this property was pretty straight forward,” which involved “attract[ing] the demographic this area commands.”

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