City of Los Angeles Ordinances to End Moratoriums Held in Housing Committee

At Wednesday’s November 9^th Los Angeles Housing Committee, the Committee discussed several draft ordinances which would set a definitive end to the City’s moratoriums on eviction and rent increases and extend the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance’s (RSO) Just Cause eviction requirements to non-RSO units citywide. The Committee also discussed a November 2^nd Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) report and related recommendations that called for the drafting of two extremely damaging proposed ordinances which would establish permanent rental housing policy changes (i) requiring rental housing providers of newer buildings exempt from Assembly Bill 1482 and the City’s RSO to pay relocation fees if they issue a rent increase which exceeds the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 5% within a 12-month period, or 10% whichever is lower and the renter decides to move out;  and (ii) imposing monetary thresholds on evictions based on non-payment of rent.

Following an hour and a half of public comment in which rental housing providers spoke to the tremendous hardships that they continue to endure due to the City’s moratoriums, Councilmember Raman, acting Committee Chair, advanced a motion which was voted on in three parts.

The first action, item 1 of the motion, which was approved, holds the three draft ordinances in the Housing committee, pending revisions to two of the draft ordinances ending the City’s eviction moratorium and expanding the City’s RSO Just Cause eviction requirements.

The approved revisions include (i) amending the draft ordinance ending the City’s eviction moratorium by removing the requirement that from December 1, 2022 to January 31, 2023, renters must provide notice to the housing provider of their inability to pay rent within seven days of the rent becoming due in order to continue to be covered under the eviction moratorium protections; and (ii) instituting multiple amendments to the draft ordinance expanding the City’s RSO Just Cause eviction requirements related to additional occupants, owner occupancy, affordable housing and condominium conversions to mirror the City’s current RSO provisions and to remove the one year tenancy requirement for renters to qualify for protection under the draft ordinance.

The remaining two motion actions, items 2 and 3, which would have pushed back the eviction moratorium’s end date to February 28, 2023 and the recommendations of the LAHD report failed. LAHD’s recommendations will likely be referred to the City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on COVID-19 Recovery and Neighborhood Investment, with no recommendations, for their consideration.

To review the full details of Councilmember Raman’s motion, please click on the button below:

MOTION

Prior to the Housing Committee meeting and during the meeting’s public comment, the Association strongly advocated for the rent increase freeze to end with the City’s eviction moratorium and not continue until 2024 and in opposition to both the draft ordinance expanding the City’s RSO just cause eviction requirements to non-RSO units citywide, and the extremely harmful recommendations made in the LAHD report.

At this time, no meeting has been scheduled for the Ad Hoc Committee on COVID-19 Recovery and Neighborhood Investment. We will continue to monitor this matter closely, continue to strongly advocate for the immediate end to the City’s moratoriums and against these detrimental permanent rental housing policy changes, and provide updates.