Landlords Try to Sell Fire Victims on Living Downtown
A New Opportunity for Displaced Fire Victims
With thousands of houses and apartments lost to wildfires in an already tight housing market, landlords in downtown Los Angeles are trying to woo displaced fire victims to a more urban setting far from the burn zones.
A social media campaign has been launched by members of the Historic Core Business Improvement District to get people searching for housing to consider moving into one of L.A.’s oldest neighborhoods, where century-old office and retail buildings on blocks south of City Hall have been converted to apartments.
A Different Option for Displaced Renters
Downtown is outside the familiar haunts of most displaced people, district Executive Director Blair Besten acknowledged, but she said she hopes the availability and price of apartments there might tempt them to consider it.
“The Westside and the Pasadena area might be saturated with people wanting to move in proximity to where they lived before,” Besten said. “That might not be possible.”
A Significant Number of Displaced Renters
Quite a few displaced people were already apartment renters. Real estate data provider CoStar said 480 multifamily buildings with 9,500 rental units were potentially damaged or destroyed within the fire zones.
Historic Buildings with Modern Amenities
The affected properties are overwhelmingly older, small-scale apartment buildings owned by mom-and-pop landlords. Nearly 75% of the buildings contain fewer than 15 units, CoStar said, and have an average age of 71 years. Many of them lack common modern amenities such as central air conditioning, fitness centers or pools.
Challenges in Rebuilding
The cost to rebuild such modest housing “poses a nearly insurmountable challenge,” CoStar said. “New apartment construction in Los Angeles has skewed toward luxury, with units completed last year averaging $3,300 in rent, a stark contrast to the rates associated with the rental properties in the fire zones” where the average asking rate was $2,640 per month.
Landlords’ Offer
The Historic Core program has about 500 units available at an average of $2,046 per month, Besten said. To increase the appeal to fire refugees, landlords are offering leases as short as three months and will arrange with furniture rental businesses to furnish units for new tenants.
“We’ve tried to very quickly furnish some homes, including kitchen essentials and bath essentials,” said Laurie Miskuski of landlord ICO Group. “There are many people who have lost everything, and the last thing they need to be worrying about is a toaster or a coffee maker.”
A Chance to Rediscover Downtown
The fires that turned people out of their homes have been “an incredibly traumatic event,” Miskuski said. “We’re trying to extend a hand and say, ‘Hey, we may not be the neighborhood you’re used to, but we are a vibrant neighborhood with many things to offer where more people are welcome.'”
Conclusion
The bulk of the units included in the business improvement district’s outreach program so far are in five historic buildings that have had problems of their own as a new owner took on deferred maintenance and ejected tenants who weren’t paying rent.
FAQs
* What is the average rent in the Historic Core?
+ The average rent is $2,046 per month.
* How long is the minimum lease term?
+ The minimum lease term is three months.
* What kind of amenities are available in the Historic Core?
+ Landlords are offering furniture rental businesses to furnish units for new tenants, and some buildings may have central air conditioning, fitness centers, or pools.
* How many units are available in the Historic Core?
+ There are about 500 units available.
* What is the target demographic for the Historic Core’s outreach program?
+ The target demographic is people displaced by the fires in the surrounding areas.
