Residents of the Wyvernwood Garden Apartments are calling for an audit of the Los Angeles Housing Department, alleging the agency has failed to enforce protections amid complaints of illegal rent increases and code violations.
The calls came during a demonstration Thursday outside the department’s Boyle Heights office, where more than 20 tenants and advocates demanded an investigation into how complaints are being handled.
They chanted, “Qué queremos? Soluciones!” before storming inside Boyle Heights City Hall, demanding to speak with a housing department official about their concerns.
A brief confrontation with a security guard, who tried to block the entryway, broke out inside the building as Leonardo Vilchis, of Union de Vecinos, a local chapter of the Los Angeles Tenants Union, and others made their way into the housing department’s office.
Once inside, protesters waited about 40 minutes to meet with a housing department staff member to discuss the closure of “hundreds of complaints” from Wyvernwood residents. Advocates said they were ready to present rental contracts and paperwork they believe show reductions of services at the apartment complex.
An employee never came out to meet them.
Sharon Sandow, a spokesperson for the LA Housing Department, released a statement saying the agency has been responsive and has investigated all complaints filed regarding violations made to the city’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance.
“We will continue working with the tenants on the issues at this location, and are referring the cases regarding reduction of services to the City Attorney’s office for action,” the statement read.
“We’re tired of these injustices. We’re tired of being just a number to this city and this department,” said Gricelda Jimenez, 50, who has lived in Wyvernwood for 30 years. “We have rights and that’s what we are demanding.”
“We’re working people who pay rent on time,” she said.
Jimenez said Wyvernwood residents deal with moldy roofs, faulty repairs, and a lack of affordable parking spaces that have been privatized.
The protest follows recent data released by City Controller Kenneth Mejia showing Wyvernwood Garden Apartments ranking among the top “problem rental properties” in the city of Los Angeles.
One Wyvernwood address ranked fifth citywide with 103 housing violation cases, but a review by Boyle Heights Beat found the entries collectively totaled 225 housing violation cases tied to properties within the complex.
The 70-acre complex, which includes nearly 1,200 units, appears multiple times in the city’s database under different addresses associated with the same ownership group. The reported cases involve allegations of illegal evictions and rent increases, as well as a reduction of services and harassment from December 2013 through November 2025.
“They don’t take our complaints seriously,” Anakaren Alcocer, an organizer with Union de Vecinos, said during the protest.
She told Boyle Heights Beat that since 2023, she has helped tenants file more than 300 complaints with the Los Angeles Housing Department.
The complaints include allegations of health code violations, failure to make repairs, insurance fraud, reduction of services and a proposed online-only payment system that would disadvantage aging tenants without bank accounts.
