Yolanda and Santiago Sanchez face moving out of the one-bedroom apartment that had been the family home for the last nine years. (Genaro Molina / LAT)
Karla Ibarra, 14, does her homework on top of her bunk bed while brother and sister Alan Jose Sanchez and Kelyn Maria Sanchez, both 3, play. (Genaro Molina / LAT)
Tenants talk at the end of a hallway of the Echo Park apartment complex that was being vacated for renovations. The buildings owners, Western Regional Properties, offered tenants $10,000 to move out − slightly more than the city- required relocation fee of $8,200. (Genaro Molina / LAT)
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Santiago Sanchez, 35, drives around in a borrowed van looking for an apartment to rent. (Genaro Molina / LAT)
After inquiring about an apartment to rent, Yolanda begins to sob as manager Josie Carrillo tells her, “What you’re looking for is impossible.” About 65% of the citys rental units are studios or one-bedrooms, according to the 2000 Census. But rental households in the city are relatively large. The census found that nearly half were made up of three people or more, and 8.5% have six people or more. (Genaro Molina / LAT)
Kelyn Maria Sanchez watches as her family packs up belongings from the one-bedroom apartment in Echo Park. (Genaro Molina / LAT)
Before the move, Kelyn plays between bunk beds inside the Echo Park apartment that had been the familys home for almost a decade. (Genaro Molina / LAT)
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Santiago and his step-daughter Karen Ibarra, 12, move some of the family’s belongings from the one-bedroom apartment. (Genaro Molina / LAT)
Yolanda watches daughter Karen pack items into a borrowed van the family was using to make the move. Santiago had to disassembled the seats of the van to create a space large enough to hold most of the familys furniture. (Genaro Molina / LAT)
Yolanda talks with daughter Karen, who looks out over her new neighborhood. There were some bright spots to the new location: The upstairs neighbor became like another grandmother to the children, and the new elementary school was better than the last. (Genaro Molina / LAT)
