For years SOLA has claimed to be a force for community good and champion for equitable development, but in truth SOLA is one of the largest community displacers in South Central. Even during the pandemic SOLA has been actively driving elderly, disabled, and low-income tenants into homelessness through aggressive harassment tactics and neglecting repairs. Tenants at 300 E. Washington Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90015 have fought to have chronic life threatening maintenance issues addressed by SOLA, the owner/manager of the property. However, no matter how many times the tenants have reached out SOLA ignored the inhumane and hazardous conditions of their properties, including excessive amounts of lead paint.With the help of community organization Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE), and slum housing and childhood lead poisoning attorneys Riley Ersoff & Shakhnis 23 tenants have filed a lawsuit against the largest section 8 landlord in Los Angeles, SOLA IMPACT FUND II, LP, it’s principal Martin Muoto and other SOLA entities. You can read the official complaint here.

AAA Lead Test Results

SOLA properties are hot with lead. Nearly every foot of 300 E. Washington is coated in hazardous amounts of lead paint. Due to the age of the property SOLA had a responsibility to perform their own lead inspection and make repairs. Instead, they used a tactic common among corporate property owners by establishing a pattern of neglecting life threatening repairs as leverage against low-income tenants. You can review the full AAA lead inspection results here.

Who Owns LA?

Notoriously little public data is collected on the ownership of rental properties in Los Angeles. Still, academic and community-based research shows that over the decades, Los Angeles has increasingly been owned by corporate interest, and not by the people. Working-class people struggling with housing insecurity are overwhelmingly not the ones benefiting from the investment-oriented housing system popular in Los Angeles and across our nation’s communities. When land is owned by the community and not corporations, everyone has the opportunity to prosper. Increasingly, tenants have found it impossible to pay rent during the pandemic. Going forward, even more renters will be unable to pay back-owed rent debt when temporary tenant protections expire. As eviction filings rise, permanent displacement becomes a greater threat for vulnerable communities. Corporate interests are already preparing to capitalize on the financial disaster. The immediate impacts of the crisis include job loss, landlord harassment, illegal lockouts, evictions, and houselessness. OWN-IT! is an interactive tool that identifies properties at risk of displacement. Visit ownit.la to learn more about owner history of a building near you. Read more our campaign against corporate landlords in our one pager.