LOS ANGELES — Over twenty tenants are getting a fresh start after a program launched by their landlord company, SoLa Impact, wiped nearly $130,000 in unpaid rent. 

With over 46,000 eviction filings across Los Angeles County in 2023, the effort was meant to reduce those numbers and give struggling tenants a chance to get back on track. 

One of those tenants, was Tashanay Scott, who said the pandemic caused her to lose nearly half her hours at work and just couldn’t keep up with rent. Eventually she found another job, but by then, months of rent had already accumulated. 

“We were trying to pay our current rent while trying to pay the back rent. And we didn’t have, you know, at the time I wasn’t making enough to cover both,” Scott said. 

As Los Angeles city eviction protections expired, the $11,000 of back rent she owed hung over her head.  

“We were almost on the verge of getting evicted from here until Deandre [apartment manager] said, 'Hey, there’s a program. There’s a workshop you guys can go to and they will forgive your rent,'” Scott said. 

At first, she said she was skeptical, but decided it was worth a shot. 

The eviction prevention program was initiated by the owners of her apartment, SoLa Impact.

Since most of the apartments they have are already meant to be affordable housing, Vice President of Property Operations Jon Suematsu, said they began working with The Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles nonprofit, looking at different ways of addressing the back rent. 

“We essentially worked together to find a solution where if we could get our residents to pay their rent consistently for three months after going through an education program, through the mayor’s fund, we would essentially write off their owed COVID rent and call it a day, and hopefully they would be successful and stay successfully housed,” Suematsu said. 

Suematsu also explained this approach, although unconventional, was still a business move. 

“Because when you look at an actual eviction, you know, in California, it takes anywhere from six months to a year. You’re not going to receive rental income for that. When you receive the unit back, you’re going to have to turn it over. You’re going to have to re-market it for rent. So there’s a lot of costs. And if somebody’s paying you their rent, is it really worth going after this $10 or $12 or $15 an hour balance? If that’s three years ago, two years ago, let’s move forward,” Suematsu said. 

That was the case for Scott, who has been able to pay her rent after switching jobs but couldn’t dig herself out of the accumulated back rent. 

“And lo-and-behold, they forgave back rent. It was a shock. It was, it was wonderful,” Scott said. 

Aside from having to pay for three months of rent on time, the program also required the tenants to work with the FamilySource Centers to receive financial literacy education. 

As part of the program, Scott said she received the foundation needed to budget going forward and also received help from the nonprofit to apply for subsidized utility programs to help free some of her income toward rent. 

It’s an approach Conway Collis, president and CEO of the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles said is crucial. 

“So it could be CALworks or CAL Fresh or tax credits, child care, and that’s the difference often between having the money to pay rent and not,” Collis said. 

It’s something he has seen with at-risk tenants in Los Angeles. Having launched this approach in 2023, Collis and his team have access to those facing eviction and directly contact them to begin the prevention efforts. 

That is also why he says the partnership between the nonprofit and SoLa Impact felt right, as both believe eviction prevention is less costly than homeless services. 

“Once you become homeless, people become receptive to it, mental illness, drug abuse, to enormous emotional problems. And then the homelessness becomes chronic, and that literally can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars as opposed to the upfront cost of keeping people housed,” Collis said. 

Although he encourages more landlords to try the approach SoLa Impact implemented, he acknowledges this is more feasible for corporate level landlords than mom and pop landlords. 

That is why they continue to try to work with tenants and landlords alike. This past month they launched a no-interest loan program for tenants to pay some of that back rent to be able to stay housed while they continue to pay off the remaining balance. 

“We are working directly with landlords to say, here’s money for back rent. It may not be all of it, it’s up to $2,500, but this person is able to now pay moving forward,” Collis said. 

Both Collis and Sumatsu hoping to see more people give this a shot. 

“We think it was a smart move. We think it’s smart business and we hope more landlords, you know, participate,” Suematsu said.

For Scott, that chance was life-changing. 

“If it hadn’t existed, if it hadn’t happened, we’d probably be in a shelter somewhere,” Scott said. 

Saying now she can focus on her future. 

“So now that you know that monkey is off our back, now we can start saving for a house. So you know, from where we are now, our next step is a house,” Scott said.