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South Los Angeles Residents Face Evictions Amid the Holidays; New Owners Plan to Open Housing Units for USC Students

Over 70 tenants at an apartment complex off Exposition Boulevard are facing eviction in the midst of the holidays after they received notices taped to their doors warning them that they must leave by mid-January at the latest.

Angry, worried, and looking for a resolution, the tenants organized a rally on Friday to bring attention to their concerns. They said that the new owners of the six buildings, Kim Chung Suk and Kim Hae Jung, plan to turn the complex into housing units for USC students.

"They’re not trying to talk to us," Steven Baldwin, who has lived in the complex for 13 years, said. "They’re trying to get us out and put USC students in. In a letter that’s what they told us."

The buildings were purchased by the new owners just last September for $8.5 million. According to the Los Angeles Tenants Union, the apartments’ residents were also given noticed that Section 8 vouchers would no longer be accepted.

"We haven’t heard from (the owners)," Paul Lanctot of the LA Tenants Union said. "We sent out a list of demands and they haven’t responded. We want to get some public support for all of these tenants."

The University responded to the rally in a statement and said that the institution has given the city $20 million to support affordable housing initiatives.

"USC is a longtime community partner, including in the area of housing," a USC media relations specialist said. "Just this year, the university has increased its student housing inventory by 35 percent to help reduce pressure on the local market."

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