Victory Alert: Los Angeles City Votes NO on City Eviction Moratorium
Victory Alert
Los Angeles City Votes NO on City Eviction Moratorium
By Janet M. Gagnon, Esq.
Chief Corporate Affairs Officer and SVP, Government Affairs
On March 4th, the Los Angeles Council voted unanimously to stop a motion that would have created a new city eviction moratorium. This vote against the item came after it was delayed and amended during previous meetings on January 29th and February 14th. One of the motions’ original authors, Council Member Eunisses Hernandez offered the motion to “note and file,” which means the item is permanently defeated.
AAGLA zealously opposed the City’s proposed passing of a citywide eviction moratorium that would create unnecessary confusion with the new countywide eviction moratorium (a/k/a, eviction defense) passed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on February 25th and that is currently in effect and applies to not only unincorporated areas, but all 88 incorporated cities, including Los Angeles City.
AAGLA heavily lobbied against a City eviction moratorium in advance at each of the meetings (including before the County had passed its resolution) as well as providing public comments and sending out Red Alerts to our members. Fortunately, there was a significant turnout of rental housing providers In-Person at the City Council meetings that helped to ensure that the City Council would abide by the County eviction moratorium rather than attempting to create its own ordinance.
During the prior meetings, Council Members Traci Park, John Lee and Monica Rodriguez made impassioned remarks against a citywide eviction moratorium recognizing that it would cause serious harm to rental housing providers and make it extremely difficult for them to continue supplying much needed affordable housing in the City. Council Member John Lee made a motion for “note and file” at the prior meeting, but it failed on a vote of 5-to-6. Council Members Traci Park, Monica Rodriguez, Bob Blumenfield and Katy Yaroslavsky supported Lee’s motion that would have stopped this item last week. Unfortunately, all 4 Democratic Socialist of America members – Council Members Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Ysabel Jurado and Nithya Raman voted against the motion along with Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Council Member Heather Hutt in a last-minute attempt to salvage the item. Fortunately, the full City Council recognized that they no longer needed to act given the County’s resolution and the original motion by Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez and Adrin Nazarian for a City eviction moratorium was finally rejected at this week’s meeting.
In order for renters to qualify for the new eviction defense based on the wildfires created by the County’s resolution, a renter must: (i) have an income of 150% Area Median Income or below, (ii) have reduced average monthly income of at least 10% due to the wildfire, (iii) be actively seeking new/additional work, applied for rental assistance or applied for unemployment benefits and (iv) provide written notice under penalty of perjury to the owner or their agent within 7 days of their rent being due that they are unable to pay due to being financially impacted by the wildfires.
While defeating a city eviction moratorium is a major success, the City Council will vote on a Substantial Remodel Moratorium on Friday, March 7th. Please see our updated Red Alert that went out yesterday (Wednesday) (as well as our original Red Alert that went out on Tuesday) urging members to immediately send emails opposing this new harmful ordinance that would prevent owners from making major system repairs and removing hazardous materials. This will harm owners and renters. Instead, the City should instruct the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) to conduct a thorough study on substantial remodels and bring back recommendations with how to help rental housing providers to continue providing needed affordable housing.
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.