Albertina Luévano, a permanent resident who lives in the Maravilla Housing Project agrees that the entry into force of a county ordinance that makes it difficult to evict tenants in unincorporated areas is the right decision.
The measure requires tenants to be at least two months behind in paying market value rent before they can attempt to evict tenants.
“It’s good that they protect us,” said Albertina, originally from Aguascalientes, Mexico. “My husband died recently and with the insurance money I barely have enough money to pay the $1,000 in rent, the $200 in bills, and the rest is for food.”
The previous time to carry out an eviction in the county is one month.
“This increase in the threshold to two months of unpaid rent is designed for those families who, for one reason or another, will not be able to make up their rent and only need temporary support,” stated Supervisor Janice Hahn, author of the ordinance. “This flexibility offers them a break, and for many of them that extra month can mean the difference between staying housed or not.”
Hahn acknowledged that, at the same time, there are also those who need even more help.
“For those families we have implemented our Emergency Rental Assistance program, which already has more than 44 million dollars,” he said. “Ultimately, we recognize that financial hardship takes different forms for every family, and we are committed to offering a wide range of options to provide the help they need.”
The ordinance amended the Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protection Ordinance, enacted in 2022 in order to reduce homelessness.
Measures against inhumane actions by ICE
Hahn and the motion’s co-author, Hilda Solis, noted that financial pressure on tenants has increased in recent months, in part due to sweeping federal immigration enforcement measures, which have deterred some people from going to work and hurt businesses, which have lost customers and workers.
“In the face of inhumane federal actions and continued threats to immigrant families, the county has taken concrete steps to protect tenants,” Solis said in a statement.
“These are not symbolic gestures, but real actions that meet the needs of those affected. Raising the threshold to two months offers important protection against eviction, while recognizing that many tenants will continue to have to pay their landlords the rent they owe,” he added.
The approved ordinance creates additional protections for the approximately 2.3 million renters residing in the city of Los Angeles.
10 months living under siege
The Los Angeles Tenants Union, along with dozens of tenant and immigrant community groups that make up the “EVICT ICE NOT US” coalition, urged supervisors to introduce an amendment to extend these protections to all tenants in Los Angeles County (not just those in unincorporated areas) and to raise the threshold for eviction rent debt to a minimum of three months’ worth of rent. fair market rent. In the end, only two months were approved.
“Two months of protection is not enough,” said a member of the Los Angeles Tenants Union. “We have been living under a state of siege for months, with no end in sight. Los Angeles tenants have months of accumulated rent debt. We need real protections against evictions, and we need them for all tenants in the county.”
In a recent study by the organization Lease Brigade, immigrant renters surveyed had already accumulated 3.6 months of rental debt since ICE raids began in June 2025, equivalent to an average of about $12,000.
Another study conducted by Lease Brigade revealed that 93% of the immigration raids that have occurred in Los Angeles since August took place in the incorporated cities of Los Angeles County, that is, in those areas where the protections proposed by Supervisors Hahn and Solís would not apply.
Some of those unincorporated Los Angeles County cities in Supervisor Hahn’s District 4 where the ordinance applies are: East La Mirada, South Whittier, West Whittier/Los Nietos, Rose Hills, and part of the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
For District 1 that Supervisor Solís represents: East Los Angeles, Rowland Heights, Hacienda Heights, Bassett, Valinda, Walnut Park.
“The ordinance neither benefits nor affects me because I live with my daughter and I pay her little rent,” said José Noriega, 70, who lives in the Alta Vista apartments, in East Los Angeles.
Under the state of emergency over immigration raids — approved by a 4-1 vote last October — the Board of Supervisors has the power to establish protection measures against evictions for the 88 cities that make up Los Angeles County.
“Raising the rental debt threshold for evictions countywide is a measure that falls within the supervisors’ rightful authority,” stated another member of the Los Angeles Tenants Union. “They have a duty to use that power to protect all tenants in Los Angeles County. It is absurd to pass piecemeal protections for certain communities while our entire county is under attack.”
Build more homes
Isela Gracián, Director of Housing, Health and Justice Policy and Deputy Deputy Director of Housing and Homelessness in the Office of Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell (District 2) said the best way to prevent homeless people from losing their homes is to build and preserve enough housing throughout Los Angeles County, along with local tenant protection measures and emergency rental assistance, for when a neighbor is faced with an unexpected change, whether a medical emergency or a reduction in rent. working day.
“No single measure is enough to solve the housing pressures Angelenos feel, which is why Supervisor Mitchell has led and supported a series of measures to strengthen housing stability and increase access to quality housing people can afford, including the latest update of the Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protection ordinance and, in June 2024, she led efforts to have the county limit the rent increases allowed in unincorporated areas of the county. Los Angeles,” Gracián said.
Additionally, he acknowledged that housing insecurity for Los Angeles renters is very real, as there are seven times more people suffering from severe rental burden than there are homeless people. Tenants who are severely rent burdened spend more than 50% of their income on housing expenses.
“The economic crisis goes beyond the high cost of housing in Los Angeles and has been intentionally fueled by the Trump Administration,” he criticized. “For the Latino and African American families in my district, this adds to the existing pressures, and I will continue to fight every day to obtain the necessary resources to support them, acting at the local level with rental assistance, food programs, keeping the MLK scientific institution open, the parks and much more,” said Isela Gracián.
A $30 million rental assistance program promoted in September by Supervisor Holly Mitchell has already closed its doors, with only landlords able to apply for the funds.
Does not alleviate poverty: Barger
“This ordinance does nothing to alleviate poverty; it only allows people who are struggling to go deeper into debt and fails to address the root cause of why they face poverty in the first place,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger (District 5).
Barger, who voted against the ordinance, said his decision also reflects his belief that local governments should not place the financial hardships of renters on the backs of landlords.
“We face an affordability crisis not only in Los Angeles County, but across the state,” he added. “Acting this way hurts small private landlords — family businesses — who depend on their rental properties for their retirement and to make ends meet.”
“It’s not fair to them, especially at a time when they are dealing with their own financial difficulties. Inflation is a reality. Imposing additional burdens on homeowners — who also have bills to pay, such as the rising cost of homeowner’s insurance, and who are struggling to meet expenses — is an unbalanced and misguided approach.”
