WE WON!!! No Extension of Just Cause Restrictions Throughout L.A. County
On March 21st the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors voted against a motion by Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Hilda Solis attempting to extend Just Cause eviction restrictions to all rental housing providers throughout Los Angeles County and the continued presence of unauthorized occupants and pets. Our champions Supervisor Kathryn Barger and Chair Janice Hahn voted No and Supervisor Holly Mitchell abstained, so the motion failed for lack of a majority. We need to thank Supervisors Barger and Hahn for having the courage to stand up to this obvious power grab by Supervisors Horvath and Solis to try and override the powers held by duly elected local City Councils by attempting to impose their radical policies.
This is a tremendous victory for all our members throughout Los Angeles County and was due in large part to the substantial numbers of rental housing owners that called, emailed and spoke during the Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday (both in-person and via phone). Chair Hahn specifically recognized that the turnout was equally balanced in terms of renters and legal aid attorneys versus rental housing providers that offered public comment during the meeting. When we speak together in numbers, we achieve wins!!! Thank you to all of our AAGLA members that took the time to have their voices heard during a very long discussion of 2½ hours on our item at the Board meeting and to those that emailed and called in advance of the meeting as well. As soon as we learned about Supervisors Horvath’s and Solis’ grossly overreach and damaging proposal, AAGLA’s government affairs team immediately began outreach efforts to Supervisors’ offices to advocate for the proposal’s defeat.
Not only did your actions help defeat the proposed extended restrictions, but it also successfully defeated the creation of a newly proposed price control that would have reduced the existing rent increase cap in the County for properties in the unincorporated area to only 3% or the year-over-year change in the local Consumer Price Index (CPI), whichever is lower and would have prohibited legitimate pass-through costs through March 31, 2024. Those rental property owners with properties in the unincorporated areas can finally start to move forward to recover from the tremendous losses suffered during the prior 3 years under the County’s eviction moratorium set to expire on March 31, 2023.
However, we must remain vigilant and engaged as there were several reports from staff that will be due back within the next 60 days, including additional funding for “onsite court advocates” a/k/a County-paid private attorneys for renters using County taxpayer funds. Also, there was significant discussion about new permanent restrictions to be added to the existing County Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO) for rental properties in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County.
Thank You ALL Again For Making Your Voices Heard and Stay Engaged! For those of you that would like to join our new AAGLA Advocacy Teams, please reach out to Max Sherman via email at max@aagla.com.
Lastly, please help make sure we have the resources to continue our fight to protect your property rights against harmful regulations. Please make a contribution today to our Political Action Committee (PAC) or Legal Fund at https://aagla.org/contribute/. By giving, you will help us to secure the next important “win.”