By Paloma Esquivel | LA Times
A South Los Angeles building where residents had complained of slum-like conditions, including not having hot water for months, was largely empty this week, after the housing department issued an order to vacate and the owner offered residents relocation money in exchange for an agreement waiving legal claims.
For the residents of 5700 S. Hoover St., it was a predicament similar to one often faced by tenants across the city who are offered cash to leave their homes and must grapple with whether to take the money and go, or try and assert their legal rights and face the uncertainty of how things will play out in the end.
They had sought help for months as they faced deteriorating conditions in the complex of more than 30 units, which is owned by an entity affiliated with the temporary housing provider Soul Housing. The building, where most residents used shared facilities, had only two working communal bathrooms and two communal showers; there was mold in the bathrooms and bedrooms, and rats and cockroaches infested the shared kitchen.
Read more at: LA Times
