A quarter of the nation’s homeless live in California. That's three times the national average. California, with all its wealth, also has the highest poverty rate in the country, and ranks 49th for housing units per resident.
Against this backdrop, a controversial housing law called the Ellis Act lets California landlords evict rent-controlled tenants if they remove their property from the rental market altogether. I went to one of these buildings to learn how this law fits into California’s housing crisis.
This story is part of an ongoing collaboration between PRX and the USC Annenberg School of Journalism in Los Angeles.