Stephanie Portillo has lived in her one-bedroom Maywood apartment with her son for 12 years, with rent increases she could afford until recently.
A new landlord purchased the complex in October 2021, when she was paying $1,000, and has since raised her rent to $1,245, she said. She received no notice about the most recent raise, nor was she aware it amounted to more than the 5% annually that state regulations allowed. In April, he asked her to sign a contract that would raise her rent to $1,675, a number well beyond what Portillo — and most of her neighbors — can afford.
Read more at the Los Angeles Times.