VICTORY ALERT: Culver City Right to Counsel for ALL Renters Defeated!
VICTORY ALERT
Culver City Right to Counsel for ALL Renters Defeated!
By Janet M. Gagnon, Esq.
Chief Corporate Affairs Officer & SVP, Government Affairs
On Monday, March 17th, the Culver City Council rejected a permanent Right to Counsel ordinance that would have obligated the City to pay for attorneys for ALL renters to fight legal evictions (a/k/a, Right to Counsel). In recognition of the fact that the City is already in severe financial distress due to its current budget, the City Council instead chose to pursue revising its existing pilot program with Bet Tzedek by allowing both limited legal advice and legal representation. However, NO ADDITIONAL FUNDING was provided for the pilot program. In addition, legal representation will be restricted to renters with household incomes of 80% Area Median Income (AMI) or less. This was a new restriction for the pilot program as it had previously been open to ALL renters regardless of income.
AAGLA strongly opposed the permanent Right to Counsel ordinance with formal written comments as well as in-person public testimony. In addition, we aggressively fought for the existing pilot program to be limited to low-income renters only and exclude those renters already well able to afford their own legal representation. We thank all AAGLA members that responded to our Red Alert by sending email in advance of the meeting and/or attending the City Council meeting in-person or via Zoom to provide oral comments. Fortunately, our voices were heard, and no additional steps are being taken on the permanent ordinance that was proposed.
Unfortunately, the City Council still seems to fail to understand that reformatting an existing pilot program does not require any type of ordinance, including an Interim Control Ordinance (ICO). It can be done simply by directing staff to obtain a revised contract from their existing provider, Bet Tzedek, for City Council approval. It is unclear what “advantage” the City Council believes passing a temporary ordinance would provide.
ICOs are only used when there is an urgent need for a temporary ordinance to address a specific, targeted issue of short duration (usually 3 to 6 months in length). No such issue exists regarding Right to Counsel as it is a general policy issue. Further, the existing pilot program with Bet Tzedek existed long before the wildfires. In fact, according to Bet Tzedek’s data provided in the City staff report, the current pilot program is servicing less than a dozen people per week on average compared to thousands of renters that exist in Culver City. This clearly shows that these services are not in high demand by residents and begs the question as to why any expansion to include legal representation is needed at all.
It seems that several members of the City Council were attempting to wrongfully conflate the wildfire event with a Right to Counsel policy to avoid proper governance procedures entailed in passing a permanent ordinance. If, however, the City Council intended to narrow the existing program so that ONLY wildfire impacted individuals were able to obtain services from Bet Tzedek, then it could have some relationship. This is why the Board of Supervisors passed a countywide eviction moratorium/defense that is only available to those that have been directly financially impacted by the fires and must attest to such impact as well as applying for rental assistance, unemployment benefits and seeking new employment. However, no such narrowing of the existing pilot program was discussed by the City Council.
Newly elected Council Member Bryan “Bubba” Fish in particular seemed confused regarding the need for Right to Counsel stating that most renters do not have attorneys representing them. It is only common sense that renters unable to pay their rent are equally unable to pay an attorney $300 per hour or more for legal representation. Further, rental housing providers are required by state law to hire an attorney and prohibited from representing themselves (pro se) as the vast majority of owners hold their properties in a limited liability company (LLC) for risk management. Instead of paying for more attorneys to get involved in an already unpleasant and costly eviction process, it is a far better spend for the City to pay the rent that is owed for the housing being received by renters and thereby AVOID evictions entirely.
We encourage AAGLA members with properties in Culver City to send emails to the full City Council NOW requesting that they do not pass an Interim Control Ordinance and instead pursue the creation of a rental assistance program for low-income renters facing short-term emergencies.
We will keep our members updated as additional information becomes available.
This article is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions regarding your property or specific leasing issues and the requirements of any legal changes described herein, please consult with an attorney.