The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a motion on Wednesday, March 22, instructing its Department of Housing to create recommendations for the establishment of a right to counsel ordinance and program for tenants facing eviction in the city.
The motion, presented by Councilwoman Nithya Raman and several of her colleagues, further asks several city departments to report back within 60 days with a detailed cost assessment, staffing needs and a prospective year-by-year spending plan for the implementation of the program.
“The motion would not have been possible without the funding that will come from Measure ULA and that really came from the people who put that measure together, and the people of Los Angeles who voted for it,” Raman said.
“I think what we can do with a right to counsel and all these new protections that we’ve passed in this council, is to take away a little bit of that precarity to make life in Los Angeles a little easier, a little calmer and a little more peaceful,” she continued.
The motion asks the Department of Housing to consider several recommendations including, but not limited to, coverage for tenants at 80% of the area median income or below who live in the city, and full legal representation for any judicial or administrative proceedings to evict or terminate the tenancy or housing subsidy of a covered individual.
A measure that would’ve extended certain residential tenant protections for one year throughout Los Angeles County was rejected by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday because it failed to gain a majority of votes. The resolution would have prohibited landlords from evicting a tenant without just cause and would have protected tenants from eviction who have added extra occupants and/or pets during the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Max Sherman, who represents the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, said the overwhelming majority of evictions are due to nonpayment of rent.
“If the…
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