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Behind The Scenes: Investigating A SoCal Rental Empire
Illustration of Mike Nijjar
(
Dan Carino for LAist
)
Last winter, our investigative reporter Aaron Mendelson was on a mission to report on evictions in Southern California — no easy task. He'd never heard of Mike Nijjar or PAMA Management.
At an investigative team meeting, Aaron briefed us on his progress, explaining that as he compiled his spreadsheets, he'd started to see the same plaintiff's names over and over on eviction cases. Some of those names seemed very similar.
Aaron had started to unravel the thread on a story we're publishing today. This is important work, the kind of journalism made possible by our readers' support. The story today is just the start of a yearlong effort by our newsroom to examine what life is like inside California's housing crisis.
Again and again, low-income renters used the same word when they described their circumstances to Aaron: "Stuck."
They wouldn't live with bedbugs or roaches or rats and sewage spills if they could afford something better or had somewhere else to go. And in many respects, all but the wealthiest Southern Californians are stuck in this housing crisis -- priced out of buying or moving, or in the worst cases, having a roof to sleep under at all.
Please watch Aaron explain some of his key takeaways from this deeply reported story. I encourage you to read and share this report with your friends, family and colleagues.
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One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
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If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
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