LOS ANGELES—After receiving unannounced, unexpected eviction notices, many tenants of an apartment complex are now facing unlawful detainers, have nowhere to go and are banding together to fight back.
Many of the tenants at 1100 Exposition Boulevard are standing up and speaking out on Tuesday to protest against their plight. Their crisis began on September 29, when Kim Chung Suk and Kim Hae Jung purchased their apartment complex for $8.5 million. The complex, which was run-down, infested with insects, had many broken power outlets and lights, is only a block away from USC.
Within two weeks of the purchase, most of the tenants opened their doors to find 60- to 90-day eviction notices posted up. The notices stated that “although no reason is required to terminate a non rent-control month to month tenancy, this notice is given for the reason that the new owner intends in good faith to renovate your unit and the property in which it is located and rent it as student housing.”
The new landlords would be able to make much more money by charging incoming USC students much higher rates for rent, rates most of the current residents could not afford.
Many of the current residents did not have anywhere else to go, however, and could not afford the higher rents that would be imposed on the students. Many refused to leave. Now those people are being given unlawful detainers and being forced out of their homes.
The residents facing the detainers plan to rally together this week at the Fight for 15 protest, held on the anniversary of the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike. The event, hosted by March and Rally Los Angeles, is a protest made to carry on “the fight for higher wages and union rights,” and to advocate for the minimum wage to be set at $15.
According to the protest’s Facebook page, “52% of fast food workers are forced to access benefits just to get by.” The page says that “we are still struggling, and we are still fighting.”
It is also a celebration of the 1968 Memphis strikes, in which many African Americans forced to survive off welfare left their sanitation jobs and protested for higher, equal wages. They were met with fierce resistance from the local government but became a large part of the Civil Rights Movement that would eventually bring an end to legalized Jim Crow laws all across the United States.
The event will occur on February 12, from 11 am to 2 pm, at 79 St James Park, Los Angeles, CA 90007. The tenants facing unlawful detainers will be a part of the event, sharing their plight with many of the attendees. To learn more about the event, see the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1942972039364724/.
