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A socialist who sells herself as a champion of struggling renters in Los Angeles is secretly living a life of luxury, the California Post can reveal.
Faizah Malik, 41, the Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidate challenging moderate Councilmember Traci Park, 50, on Los Angeles’ Westside with a campaign centered on rent reform and housing affordability, lives in a sprawling $2.5 million mansion in Venice Beach.
The sprawling home sits on a 5,780 sq ft lot with a private enclosed yard, with sun-drenched interiors and high-end finishes throughout.
It has an all-white kitchen with stainless steel appliances, multiple bedrooms opening on to private balconies and a deck designed for outdoor dining, a rare luxury in the expensive enclave.
The property is tucked inside Penmar, near the Penmar Golf Course, a neighborhood of single-family homes, where prices typically start at $1.7 million and climb to $4 million.
Zillow listing has the property’s rental estimate at $8,000 a month, a far cry from the struggling renters she claims she will represent.
The average Angeleno pays up to $3,000 for a place to live, according to a March rental market trends report by Zumper.
Only nine percent pay more than $6,000 a month for rent.
But when The Post contacted Malik, her spokeswoman suggested she too was feeling the squeeze: “On the Westside, there are renters that are in every possible financial situation, and there are homeowners who are feeling enormous financial pressure as well.
“Faizah’s record demonstrates her commitment to the ideals put forward in our campaign, that every person in our city should have a dignified life.”
Her campaign also said that while Faizah believes ”that people from any background can certainly be credible advocates for tenants.
”The fact that she herself is a renter does give Faizah credibility on tenant advocacy issues, because she is able to speak from her lived experience.
”Faizah and her husband represent a large segment of Los Angeles, millennials that are priced out of home ownership.”
Barry Cassilly, a Venice resident active in Westside politics, told the Post: “Faizah Malik trying to pass herself off as a humble renter is offensively insulting to people’s intelligence given that she lives in a large, multi-million dollar home in one of the more exclusive parts of the sixth most expensive neighborhood in Los Angeles.”
The Malik’s mansion clashes directly with core DSA housing ideology, which calls for shifting away from private, profit-driven housing toward publicly owned models.
DSA’s own platform says “social housing” should redistribute land from private owners to the public and challenge the foundation of private property itself, not just make housing more affordable.
Malik’s campaign site touts years spent defending renters and pushing for affordable housing, promising she will fight for safer streets, expand bike and bus lanes, and protect vulnerable road users.
It also underscores her call to build more housing — especially in the job-rich, housing-starved Westside district.
Malik husband, Zaahir Syed, 44, is a senior managing director at CBRE Investment Banking, advising major real estate players on how to raise and deploy capital.
His background includes capital-raising roles at a Manhattan-based real estate investment fund.
He also founded and chaired the Detroit Foundation, focused on urban revitalization.
The couple has two children who attend an elite private school, in which her husband has been on the board since 2024.
Annual tuition is $41,500, with additional costs including a $200 family community fee, $1,000 per child for student activities, and a $200 capital fee, all before factoring in optional monthly payment handling charges.
Malik herself is a top attorney at Public Counsel, where she serves as managing attorney on tenant rights issues.
She works closely with advocacy coalitions including the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles — the same social justice group that just landed a roughly $106 million contract from the City to push aggressive tenant protections, land-use mandates and development battles.
Those efforts have been backed by fellow DSA ally and Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Nithya Raman, who herself lives in a $1.9 million home.
Malik has planted herself at the center of one of the Westside’s ugliest fights: the Venice Dell project.
She helped lead the legal charge, suing Karen Bass and Councilmember Traci Park, to force through an “affordable” housing development with a staggering price tag of roughly $1.2 million per unit.
While pushing the lawsuit that could saddle taxpayers with another expensive housing project, Malik is also warning City Hall is already bleeding cash because of raises for the LAPD and LAFD.
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