【《We Chinese in America》Media Editor Tang Zhao, June 14, 2022】 Oprah Winfrey and Eric Garcetti are among the most visible admirers of Martin Muoto, who has earned a reputation for rehabilitating L.A. rental properties in poor areas generally shunned by Wall Street investors, and for housing large numbers of Section 8 tenants. Last fall, when Muoto’s brainchild SoLa Impact opened the 28-unit Avalon apartments to accommodate formerly homeless adults and children, TV crews and assorted VIPs turned up to mark the occasion. (Homeless image. Credit: City Watch Los Angeles)

But the Nigerian-born Muoto also has been criticized by tenants’ advocates for deploying what they say is an investor-backed business model that prioritizes profits over quality of life.

“The day after the Avalon opening, the nonprofit Inner City Law Center alleged in a suit that SoLa exposed tenants in one of its buildings to ‘health and safety threats on a daily basis’ including ‘long-term infestations of rats and cockroaches, severe water damage destabilizing the walls and ceilings, rampant mold’ while the company’s principals ‘have lined their own pockets with ... rental payments by skimping on necessary repairs and regular maintenance,’ ” The L.A. Times’ story reports. “Public records show that many of SoLa’s buildings have been repeatedly cited for code violations, a fact Muoto attributes to their age and the deteriorated condition they were in when he purchased them.”

In addition to detailing the legal and other challenges besetting Muoto, The Times’ story describes the intriguing career trajectory of this graduate of the prestigious Wharton School of Business (Donald Trump’s alma mater), whose bulging portfolio of residential-rehab projects has broadened to include commercial real estate ventures.

On his own behalf, Muoto rebuts much of the criticism leveled against him, asserting that his stewardship is a step up from that of previous landlords, who he says “bled” their tenants “for cash and didn’t put a penny into maintenance.” According to Muoto, SoLa has put nearly $50 million into renovations, despite the considerable challenges of developing these types of projects and COVID-related delays.

“This is not Moses leading people out of Egypt. But if we didn’t buy them, who would, right? If we didn’t invest, who would, right?” Muoto says.

Indeed, to date no individual has emerged capable of shepherding Los Angeles out of its affordability desert, although some of the city’s aspiring leaders insist that they will be the one to deliver our tens of thousands of houseless neighbors to the Promised Land. Muoto’s example underscores that such a task won’t ever be simple.

(Source: L.A. Times Essential California)

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