LOS ANGELES — The City Council is expected to vote Tuesday on a proposal meant to limit anticipated rent increases for properties that are subject to the city’s rent-control law.
The proposal was previously delayed during last week’s council meeting by Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez, who wanted more time for his colleagues to consider the idea. The proposal was prompted by the pending Jan. 31, 2024, end of a pandemic-era rent freeze placed on rent-stabilized units.
The city’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance was adopted in 1979 and applies to rental housing built before 1978. It limits the allowable increase for rent-controlled units, tying rent increases to the consumer price index, a measure of inflation.
On Nov. 1, the council’s five-member Housing and Homeless Committee voted 3-2 to approve a revised proposal aimed at limiting rent hikes following expiration of the rent freeze. Council members Monica Rodriguez and John Lee voted against it.
Councilman Bob Blumenfield amended a motion Soto-Martinez introduced on Oct. 25 that sought to extend the freeze on rent-controlled units. Rather than extend the rent freeze, the Blumenfield amendment requested that the city attorney, with the assistance of the Housing Department, draft an ordinance that would temporarily set rent increases for rent-controlled units from Feb. 1 to June 30, 2024.
What will be before the council Tuesday will be a compromise of sorts — a plan to allow up to a 4% rent increase, or up to 6% if landlords cover gas and electrical costs, for rent-stabilized units.
The rent hikes would be calculated using a formula outlined in the city’s rent control law, using the consumer price index from October 2022 to September 2023 instead of from October 2021 to September 2022.
According to Blumenfield, by using the most recent consumer price index, the formula would allow a rent increase of 4% — instead of what would have been a 7% increase.
“So, it would not allow for a rent freeze…
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