L.A.'s Urban Poor Face Worsening Housing Picture

"Average rents in the city have jumped 82% in the last 10 years, to $1,750 a month, according to surveys of large properties by RealFacts, a Bay Area real estate consulting firm. In pockets like Echo Park, they've more than doubled.

In addition, apartment buildings that once housed low-wage workers have been torn down or converted to condominiums at an accelerating rate. The city has seen a loss of about 9,000 rent-controlled units — the only kind of apartments tracked — just since the start of 2005, according to Housing Department records."