The same investment that is producing thousands of jobs in the Figueroa Corridor has also contributed to skyrocketing real estate values in the area, gentrification, and displacement. Shortly after the ink was dry on our L.A. Arena agreement and a new redevelopment plan was adopted by the City Council, SAJE organizers found that local residents were less concerned about slum housing conditions and more about simply keeping a roof over their heads. As unscrupulous landlords tried to cash in on the combination of rising real estate values, a severe housing shortage, and an underserved market of USC students who can pay up to four times the amount in rent as a working class family, the threat of eviction had become an ugly, daily reality.

In response, SAJE researched best practices from around the country and in 2002 brought 10 community leaders and organizers on a study tour to organizations in New York and Massachusetts. After visiting the Dudley Street Initiative, 5th Avenue Committee, Cambridge Eviction Free Zone, and Vida Urbana/City Life, the group came back and established L.A.'s first Displacement Free Zone. The Zone encompases the ten-block area that has been the target of our Healthy Homes program and consists of efforts to hold the line against displacement through weekly tenants rights workshops, legal assistance, tenant organizing, and campaigns for protective policies, such as No Net Loss.

SAJE is presently developing an intensive leadership development program for 25 of our most active grassroots members. Upon completion of the program, these activists will then join forces with our ally organizations to produce a housing plan for the Figueroa Corridor that consolidates our organizing, policy, and community development efforts into a single unified strategy. Check back at this site for the results.