In less than two years, this nonprofit has moved more than 50 housing units off the speculative market for good.
Helen Leung opened escrow just a few days into the new year. She had six months to raise $8.3 million, and while she had some ideas, she didn’t know yet where she would find all of it.
Over the previous 18 months, Leung had raised more than $5 million, successfully closing escrow for three acquisitions on behalf of LA Más, the northeast Los Angeles nonprofit where she’s executive director. Based in the largely Latino and Asian neighborhood known as Frogtown, LA Más wasn’t even in the housing market until about two years ago.
But Leung feels pressure to move even faster. Since growing up in Frogtown, she’s witnessed how rental properties here and all over Los Angeles have become prime targets for speculative investors whose business models depend on raising rents every year by the maximum amount allowed by law. Many have used loopholes to flip rent-stabilized buildings into market-rate rentals or condos.
LA Más aims instead to take properties off the speculative market for good, minimizing the amount that rents go up every year, and giving tenants a final say in key decisions about their buildings.
Read the full article, originally published at NextCity.
So proud of the work that LA Más and Self-Help Ventures Fund are doing for housing in Northeast LA!
Sammy Lyon
Associate Broker
Dow Capital
DRE # 02113227
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