[dropcap size=big]C[/dropcap]ecilia Vargas Reyna endured cockroaches, mold growing on the floors, and humidity separating wall boards in her tiny single-family house in Compton, but six years ago, when she moved in with her family, at least the rent was affordable, she said.
Then in November 2017, her landlord increased her rent to $2,100, a 50 percent increase. All told the company, Invitation Homes, has more than doubled Reyna’s monthly rent in the six years since she moved in there.
“I am really fed up with the company,” Reyna told L.A. Taco. “They don’t even fix things we asked them to fix. They don’t have the capacity to do what they are supposed to do.”
The company, Invitation Homes, failed to fix persistent problems that she pointed out in her three-bedroom, 926-square-foot house which includes an attached garage, Reyna said. For years, she and her family lived with stopped up plumbing under the kitchen sink, mold growing on the floor and walls, and cockroaches.
After four months of protests coordinated by the group and a back and forth between her lawyer and Invitation Homes, it looked as though her rent would return to $1,400 a month. That amount would still be 40 percent more than her original rent of $1,000, when she and her family moved in 2013.
Pay or quit notification.
But on Oct. 15, Reyna received a “pay rent or quit” letter, threatening her with eviction. Instead of paying the increase or moving out, Reyna said she is fighting back.
Reyna and ACCE brought Invitation Homes a Thanksgiving message to the company’s office in Pasadena on Wednesday. About 50 protestors set up a Thanksgiving buffet spread inside the company’s lobby.
“They are actually very incompetent,” Reyna said during the protest inside the lobby of Invitation’s Pasadena office. “They only care about money and don’t even care about fixing our issues. Honestly, I am frustrated. Every time I come here to pay the rent, I see people who have the same problems as mine. So, I am done with this. I am here to protest against Invitation Homes.”
About 50 protestors set up a Thanksgiving buffet spread inside Invitation Homes HQ. All photos by Philip Iglauer.
Reyna said one of the more heartbreaking things is that she actually wants to move out the tiny 1940s bungalow, but it’s not that easy. Her husband Carlos, works at a nearby auto parts factory and the youngest of her three kids attends Compton High School. They have built a life in the community.
Her experience with Invitation Homes isn’t unusual. Whitney Hurst an Invitation Homes renter in Esparto, California complained of similar problems.
“The company uses a model of maximum profit through regular major rent increases at minimum cost. [They're] properties and office [are] so understaffed that it’s virtually impossible to reach a live employee about maintenance requests,” Joe Delgado, director of ACCE’s Los Angeles branch, told L.A. Taco.
Cecilia Reyna,45, and her son, Carlos Jr.,15.
Invitation Homes was spun off of equity giant Blackstone Group back in 2012. In the second half of 2017, it merged with another real estate giant, Starwood Waypoint Homes, transforming into a $10 billion property management behemoth.
Reyna’s tiny Compton home is just one of about 82,000 properties that Invitation Homes manages, most of them are entry-level three-bedroom houses in 17 metropolitan areas concentrated in the Sun Belt. Its portfolio – though still less than one percent of the overall single-family rental market – is 58 percent larger than that of its nearest competitor, American Homes 4 Rent.
Even though Reyna and her family face a threat of imminent eviction from the largest property management company in the country, she said she was optimistic, even thankful. “Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I can spend time with my husband and children.”
Philip Iglauer covered all things Koreana for 15 years — foreign diplomats, kimchi, Samsung and, of course, North Korea — out of Seoul. After returning to his native Northeast Los Angeles in late 2016, he freelances on his hometown’s goings-on.
Plus, a party highlighting pan-African cuisine, a new Taiwanese cookbook by an awarded local from the San Gabriel Valley, and a Little Saigon food festival that starts tonight! Welcome back to Spot Check!
Growing up in Arleta with a first-generation family from El Salvador, Berrios admits that her family only embraced her career choice two years ago, after she started to win awards like “Young Funeral Director of the Year.” The 24-year-old works as the licenced funeral director and embalmer at Hollywood Forever cemetery. As a young person born in peak Generation Z, she's documented her deathcare journey on TikTok and has accrued more than 43K followers on the platform.
Michoacán-raised Rogelio Gonzalez slices the cuerito (the pig skin) in a checkered pattern to ensure a light crunch in each bite and utilizes every part of the pig, from the feet to the liver and intestines, which he binds together in a braid.
In three hours, D's Tipsy Tacos and her team passed out “roughly 100 plates” of tacos, burritos, rice, beans, nachos, and quesadillas to striking screenwriters and actors.
Almost every time I visit a property with landscaping issues, the problem starts with bad design: the wrong plants in the wrong place. Here's advice from a third-generation L.A. landscaper and noted taco expert.