A 'unique' opportunity for investors spells mass eviction for tenants

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Life at The Driftwood apartments was far from perfect. Tenants said the plumbing was prone to leaks and once in a while a cockroach might scamper through the kitchen.

But rent, at $800 or less a month, was doable. And the cream-colored building on Pacific Avenue in Long Beach held special memories.

For Jonaya Chadwick, 19, it was where she hoisted friends to grab avocados from a tree and wrote fantasy stories that helped her escape problems at school and home.

When her mother, Theresa Harvey, fought cancer in a nearby hospital, Chadwick even stayed with the complex's live-in owners.

But in January 2017 the last of those owners died and soon after a commercial brokerage posted an online advertisement: "CBRE is pleased to present The Driftwood Apartments, a 13-unit building located in non-rent control Long Beach."

The ad said it was a "unique" investment opportunity with rents about 30 percent below market - the clear implication there was plenty of room to hike.

Orange County investors purchased the property in May 2017, and in January, a firm they hired, Beach Front Property Management, told all residents they had 60 days to leave.

A week later, Beach Front followed with the same notices at another property just two blocks away, and the clock started ticking on what advocates say is an increasingly common crisis for California renters: a mass eviction.

Driven by a white-hot real estate market, investors are snatching up older apartment buildings and clearing out tenants to renovate units and re-market them at sometimes double the rent. Other times, buildings are leveled to build pricier apartments or condos.

Displaced residents must find more expensive lodgings - if they