Whenever Danae Vega, 33, took a shower in her Southern California home, it was an ordeal. The pipes were broken, so the water didn’t drain. Each time, she would have to ask her younger brothers to manually remove the water so the next person in the family of eight could take a shower. Demanding that the landlord repair the pipes was not an option. “When we would tell the owner to fix it, he would always threaten us: ‘If I fix it, I’m going to have to include this in raising the rent,’” she said.