Skid Row receivership in danger of financial collapse, leaving 1,500 tenants at risk

A man pushes a cart with his belongings past the 649 Lofts on Los Angeles’ Skid Row in April. The financial circumstances have become so dire that Mark Adams, the receiver in charge of 29 properties owned by Skid Row Housing Trust, is asking for emergency action from a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, or else he said he’ll have to cancel security contracts, lay off his staff and surrender the effort. Adams told the court in May he hoped to spend an average of $3,000 a piece to fix nearly 400 units where the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles has stopped paying vouchers that cover much of tenants’ rents. The potential exit of some of the trust’s highest-value assets has spooked potential financiers, Adams said in his filing, with the possibility of diminished collateral forcing them to demand higher interest rates. After the city officials learned last month that Adams had taken out a $1.3-million loan at a 15% interest rate, they asked for prior court approval anytime a loan’s interest rate would exceed 10%.