No one needs me to tell them that LA’s housing crisis became much, MUCH worse over the past two weeks.
But, there are still those who stubbornly don’t want to accept that some property owners have persisted in keeping units empty in the hopes of flipping or redeveloping an empty property.
In fact, there’s an especially shocking example in Glendale.
According to conversations with the few households who do still live in the complex, more than 20 of the 37 apartments are vacant, and have been for nearly two years.
Special thanks goes to a regular reader who tugged my sleeve over to this midcentury complex:
Glendale Garden Homes…37 spacious homes built in the famous California Garden Apartment Movement style. Giant midcentury balconies overlooking beautifully landscaped gardens.
Said to have been built to be Glendale’s answer to the aesthetic charm and beauty of Pasadena’s Orange Grove Avenue, they are a magical and rare example of existing medium density affordable housing in Los Angeles.
The only problem is…you can’t live there.
According to a preservationist friend who has been working with residents and neighbors to try and save this historic place, the majority of these 37 spacious homes with giant living rooms and double sided fireplaces are completely unoccupied. Just sitting there EMPTY. And they have been for almost two years.
They are part of the ugly. modern phenomenon of “Unrentable Housing”.
If you go to the property, their signs have no contact information.
If you Google it and call the number (818-551-1870), a strange message will tell you to configure your URL and hang up on you.
Dig deeper on the apartment finder websites, and you can read about their amazing MOVE IN SPECIAL…but alas, there are NO VACANCIES.
Surely, you say, there must be a mistake. California is in the midst of a serious housing crisis.
With thousands of families displaced by the fires in even MORE dire need of housing, certainly these 20-plus empty and unused homes could be the salvation of 20-plus desperate families.
But they can’t have them.
Because they secretly don’t exist.
The real story is a dark and terrible tale straight out of “Chinatown”.
In truth…
The owner/developer has essentially deadlisted this incredible and viable stock of affordable housing. He has been fighting many of the residents and neighbors to demolish this complex to build a massive new one many times larger.
If he can succeed in tearing down this historic garden community (along with all the giant trees), the new 149-unit 6-story complex called Metro Glendale that will replace it will be a real estate prospect worth many millions.
And while he has been battling with the neighbors and the city to get permission to move forward and demolish all 37 homes and chop down all the many trees and gardens, the residents who used to populate most of these naturally occurring affordable homes have, one by one, simply disappeared.
According to neighbors, once someone moves out, nobody new ever moves in.
Neighbors refer to it as the Area 51 of rental housing.
You can’t live there.
For all intents and purposes, it doesn’t exist.
For families who just lost their homes in the [Eaton] fire, these 26 homes could be the lifeline they need more than anything in the world.
But they can’t have them.
Because, as one neighbor puts it, there’s a profit to be made, and people who need this housing are an inconvenient truth.
I’ve noticed that the pro-density crowd ALWAYS ever-so-conveniently forgets (or glosses over the fact) that it takes YEARS to redevelop. You need permits. You need the funds to complete the project (although sometimes developers run out of money and abandon incomplete projects, which become blighted fire hazards). You need a crew, and it just got MUCH harder to hire builders in Southern California, which already had a builder shortage before thousands of homes went up in flames. Displaced households need those empty apartments NOW. The owners could choose to rent out the vacant units now and redevelop in a few years (or even build the proposed development elsewhere), when the housing market has had a chance to recover.
But the owners probably won’t do that.
Reader Cathy J. states:
The owners have kicked renters out of units for several years. Tenants would complain about a toilet not working, for example, and instead of just fixing it, the owners would declare the unit uninhabitable and kick them out. The owners did not pay a mandatory relocation fee either. Because Glendale has price controls (different from rent control) to protect tenants, the owners would seem to want to avoid having to replace existing rented units with 1-1 affordable housing as allowed under state density bonus laws. And, of course, because the current owners have owned the property for many years, they don't need the state incentives to make the project "pencil out." But they're taking full advantage of the variances anyway. This project exemplifies what's wrong with state housing mandates. Glendale may be slated to lose beautiful historic buildings with large - many affordable - units for a hideous monstrosity no one wants except Yimby zombies.
Why isn’t this problem more well-known? Well, according to Cathy, “Those who stayed are worried about retaliation.”
Can you blame them?
Want to help? Sign the petition!