On November 17, 2022, members of the Hillside Villa Tenants Association and the 920 Everett Tenants Association traveled to the home of the Los Angeles Housing Department’s general manager on the city’s West Side. The tenants, who live in Chinatown and organize with Chinatown Community for Equitable Development (CCED), have long been frustrated with the inertia of the city’s housing department (LAHD), so they staged a protest in front of the manager’s home, demanding action. One of the Hillside Villa tenants spoke forcefully: “If I don’t do my job, I will be removed from my workplace. I think we need the same for you. If you can’t do your job, just get the fuck out of there.”

The 920 Everett building is one among dozens owned and operated by Victoria Vu and Jerome Fink. Vu and Fink’s business model is typical for corporate landlords in California’s increasingly financialized housing markets: they purchase primarily rent-stabilized units through various LLCs in gentrifying areas; displace long-term tenants through cash-for-keys and/or harassment tactics; undertake shoddy, unpermitted, and often hazardous construction work; and rent out the renovated units at market rate, utilizing the legislative loophole provided by California’s Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which permits rent increases when tenants vacate their unit.

CCED documented these practices in the report Harassment for Keys, which tenants from 920 Everett and other Vu and Fink–owned buildings delivered to LAHD alongside countless complaints in July 2022. They insisted the city start holding predatory landlords accountable and protect tenants from harassment, retaliation, and uninhabitable living conditions — demands tenants reiterated at the November protest in front of the manager’s house.