A controversial home-ownership model is gaining steam again in LA — with a twist

A new housing model that landed in Los Angeles several years ago made home ownership more affordable in pricey neighborhoods, a welcome option in a housing-starved region.

It also had a major flaw, according to critics: Investors often displaced tenants in cheaper rentals to renovate their units and resell them.

Now, an L.A. developer has a new approach to the so-called tenancy-in-common, or TIC, model, in which residents share ownership of the property. Instead of converting old, rent-controlled buildings into TIC properties, the developer is replacing single-family homes with new townhomes.

That adds less costly housing stock to the area with fewer chances of displacement since most single-family houses are owner-occupied.

"I thought this wasn't something I could afford," said Ricky Howard, a 34-year old buying his first home, a three-bedroom townhouse in Arlington Heights with stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops and central air conditioning.

"I was ... questioning why was it priced at $749,000," he said, "and it's new construction."

At TIC developments, rather than own an individual unit on a lot like a condominium, residents own a share of the overall lot and have where they had been budding for decades.