These L.A. tenants want to own their buildings. L.A. is collecting millions to help

Mary Carmen Martinez at her Koreatown apartment complex. For me, that’s more important than making money.” “As a single mom, I never dreamed of being able to own anything like this,” said Mary Carmen Martinez. But the city’s “mansion tax” is expected to change that, bringing in hundreds of millions per year, about a third of which could be allocated to support “social housing.” Such projects require that tenants play a meaningful role in running their properties, encourage tenant ownership and include covenants that keep buildings permanently affordable. The initiative — drafted by renters’ rights groups, homeless service providers, affordable housing nonprofits and labor unions — was designed to bolster social housing across the city, allocating 22.5% of its funding to “alternative housing models” in which “residents shall have the right to participate directly and meaningfully in decision-making concerning the operation and management of the project.” “Where feasible and desirable,” the law says, “the project shall include resident ownership.” Another source of funding for such projects would be part of the law that supports tenant ownership for projects that buy and rehabilitate older buildings for affordable housing, like in Martinez’ case. Earlier this year, Sen. Tina Smith and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced a federal bill to promote social housing, arguing that “we can’t wait for the private market alone to solve the housing crisis.” A state law approved last year commissioned a study to analyze opportunities for and obstacles to increasing social housing in California.