LA City Council Sets Course To Expand Tenant Protections As Eviction Moratorium Deadline Is Set

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 4, 2022

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LOS ANGELES — Today, before a packed council chamber, key amendments introduced by Councilmembers Kevin de León and Nithya Raman aimed at increasing tenant protections were approved by the Los Angeles City Council as the eviction moratorium deadline was set for January 31, 2023. The amendments – which follow a set of amendments put forth by Councilmember Raman at an earlier Housing Committee Meeting – mark an important victory for renters rights advocates who had called for expanded protections in the face of the lifting of the eviction moratorium that was put into place at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“For the past two years, the Local State of Emergency and Eviction Moratorium Protections shielded tens of thousands of Angelenos that would have otherwise faced immediate eviction and homelessness for circumstances well outside of their control,” said Councilmember de León. “The amendments that I and my colleagues secured today will go a long way to bring permanent protections to tenants, especially the most vulnerable residents like seniors and low-income residents scraping to get by month-to-month.” 

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the Coronavirus (COVID-19) as a pandemic and Mayor Eric Garcetti issued a temporary moratorium on evictions for non-payment of rent for tenants impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The City Council subsequently passed an ordinance that ordinance temporarily prohibited evictions of residential and commercial tenants for failure to pay rent due to COVID-19 and prohibited evictions of residential tenants during the emergency for no-fault reasons.

“Pandemic related tenant protections helped us keep people housed during a painful time in our city. The success of those protections hold lessons for how we shape the landscape for renters in our city going forward,” said Councilmember Nithya Raman. “As a society, we recognized the devastation that evictions can cause for people, and that the city should be there to support tenants through temporary periods of hardship. The new protections that are being implemented in the coming months will help us to build a better LA for all residents.” 

Among the more significant changes brought forth by Councilmembers de León and Raman include: 

• Expansion to Universal Just Cause for evictions on rental properties – making sure all evictions are for specific causes and tenants receive relocation support.
• Data collection and tracking of all evictions – ensuring the City knows how many people need help finding housing and to adequately staff up to help tenants recover from an eviction.
• Creation of a Tenants Bill of Rights – making sure every tenant and landlord knows the laws to avoid preventable issues. 

Prior to the pandemic, an estimated 30,000 evictions a year were filed in the City of Los Angeles. During the pandemic, eviction filings dropped by 67%, due in large part to expanded protections for renters. The permanent extension of the protections listed above is aimed to ensure tenants are not unfairly evicted and pushed into homelessness.

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