L.A.'s Crackdown On Illegal Housing

"Since January 2000, inspectors with the city Housing Department's Systematic Code Enforcement Program have discovered at least 4,447 illegal conversions. Often cited are garages, laundry rooms and attics illegally converted into living spaces.The thousands of nonconforming units present code enforcement officials with a complex balancing act: how to provide families with safe housing without leaving them with no housing at all. Inspectors estimate that landlords eventually remove as many as 90% of the illegally converted units from the market.In some neighborhoods, converted garages and illegal units are the only housing that poor families can afford. When those units are eliminated, many renters can be thrown into a tight housing market with little assistance."

Thanks to Tom Collins