LA Tenants Union testifies about harassment in apartments financed by TPG

In 2019, TPG Real Estate Finance Trust (which is under TPG Capital)  gave K3 Holdings, a real estate investment firm, the financial backing to purchase over 400 housing units across 14 Los Angeles multi-family properties. Tenants believe that K3 Holdings purchased these buildings with the intent of increasing their value through the targeted harassment and displacement of low-income and Latino tenants. 

Organizers claim that K3 Holdings used coercive methods to convince tenants to vacate their buildings in a “cash for keys” scheme. Cash for keys is essentially when landlords choose to pay tenants to leave instead of using typical eviction proceedings, often done when the landlord feels as though their eviction filings would be unsuccessful. Tenants also report being told that their apartment building was headed towards demolition, giving them the impression that they had no choice but to leave. According to tenants, tenants who did not agree to the cash for keys offers were subjected to harassment, and threats of deportation by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE).

On July 16th, tenant organizers from the Los Angeles Tenants Uniongave public comments at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), about the pension fund’s continued investment in TPG Capital. They gave their comments after TPG’s CEO James Coulter gave a presentation to the CalPERS board. TPG Capital is a Texas-based private equity firm, with currently $244 billion assets under management. CalPERS has invested over $500 million in TPG, with their most recent investment taking place in 2023.

TPG CEO James Coulter listens to comments from LA Tenants Union

One of the buildings purchased by K3 Holdings is located at 1057 S. Western Avenue, in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles. The majority of tenants in this building are monolingual, with Spanish as their primary language yet tenants claim they were forced to sign English-only contracts. Through the K3 Tenant Council, an organizing group housed within the LA Tenants Union, tenants have now launched a rent strike. They are demanding that they be “returned to their previous lawful contracts,” as well as “an end to all illegal harassment.” Tenants are also demanding that they receive “dignified living conditions,” after observing black mold in their units. 

In their public comment, tenant organizers stated that “TPG has enacted mass amounts of harm..in Los Angeles,” and urged meeting attendees to visit K3TC.org to learn more about “how tenants are fighting back against these companies.” Tenants also encouraged everyone listening to “demand that CalPERS cut ties with K3 and TPG and to support diverse groups of people who are organizing. 

The Los Angeles Tenants Union was founded in 2015, and with over 2,000 active members it is one of the largest tenant unions in the country. Through the union’s extensive network and strong connection with other housing groups, the union has the capacity for creating a large reputational risk for investors affiliated with TPG.