May 27, 2025
By Iris Craige, Assistant Director of Research and Policy
On May 13, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE) submitted a letter in strong support of Council Motion 24-1586. The motion calls on the city to report how many homes in Los Angeles are owned by limited liability companies and corporations, and to explore a tax on corporate ownership of single-family homes. This motion couldn’t be more urgent.
SAJE’s research shows that corporations are rapidly acquiring homes across L.A. County, especially in historically disinvested communities and moments of crisis. Following the Eaton Fire in Altadena, we tracked a dramatic spike in corporate acquisitions: 47% of post-fire home sales between January and May 2025 were to LLCs or corporations, many of them based outside the region. Compare that to the same period the year prior, when only 5% of home sales went to corporate buyers.
Why does it matter who owns our homes? Corporations extract wealth from our communities, preventing local residents from owning or controlling where they live. Corporations are also more likely to evict or displace residents, raise rents, and harm community health, all while operating behind corporate anonymity, with little to no accountability to tenants or communities.
We’re encouraged that the Los Angeles City Council is starting to confront the problem of corporate ownership of the city’s housing stock. We urge them to go further, and consider the following policy tools:
- A strengthened and progressive gross receipts tax on rental income. Higher tax rates would apply to large corporate owners, while small property owners would be protected. This model is also part of California’s proposed Homes for Families Act, and the tax would generate vital revenue for affordable housing while curbing the incentive to accumulate massive investment portfolios of housing stock.
- An out-of-state transactions fee levied on corporate buyers headquartered outside California. Inspired by British Columbia’s Speculation and Vacancy Tax, this fee would help ensure Wall Street and global investors contribute to the communities they’re profiting from.
Los Angeles must take bold action to ensure our neighborhoods aren’t sold off to the highest bidders. Motion 24-1586 is a critical first step, but it must lead to real structural change. Let’s tax corporate landlords. Let’s close the loopholes that fuel speculative ownership. And let’s invest in deeply affordable housing, tenant protections, and community control.
L.A. City Council will hear this motion on Wednesday, May 28 at 10:30am. Submit written public comment here, or attend to the meeting at L.A. City Hall to share your thoughts in person.
