If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily morning newsletter, How To LA. Every weekday, you'll get fresh, community-driven stories that catch you up with our independent local news.Nine years ago, tenants of the Pigeon Palace at 2840-2848 Folsom Street in San Francisco faced a dilemma. Their aging landlord, who had long rented at affordable rates, was unable to continue overseeing the place. Instead a court-appointed conservator took steps to auction off the building.
Today, tenants of Pigeon Palace, a six-unit Queen Anne building, pay between $1,400 and $3,000 per month for spacious two-bedroom apartments in one of the pricey city’s most desirable neighborhoods. They share a bike room and garden with outdoor meeting space and make decisions together about building management.
“We’re giving control of buildings to the community. We’re taking it off the speculative market and we’re ensuring that tenants can become homeowners if they want to,” said Jessica Melendez, director of policy for TRUST South L.A., which recently bought two small multi-unit buildings in gentrifying South Los Angeles with the goal of turning them into cooperatives.
The movement took a hit this year when California lawmakers seeking to close a budget deficit scrapped a $500 million program that would have given tenants and community land trusts grants to buy properties at risk of foreclosure.