EVICTION DATA SHOWS NEED FOR PERMANENT RENTER PROTECTIONS, YES ON MEASURE ULA
LOS ANGELES, CA — Liberty Hill Foundation, the administrator for the Stay Housed L.A eviction defense and prevention program, released data compiled by the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project-LA showing that the long-feared “eviction tsunami” has arrived in the Los Angeles housing market, calling on Los Angeles City and County governments to replace expiring COVID-era eviction protections with permanent protections that include a Right to Counsel.
“When we and our partners launched Stay Housed L.A. with funding by LA City and LA County in 2020, it was a commitment that we would provide tenants with representation so that, combined with state and local protections, they would not be forced into the street,” said Shane Murphy Goldsmith, President and CEO of the Liberty Hill Foundation. “State and local protections worked during the pandemic, but as they get lifted we see a rising flood of evictions. If we don’t redouble that commitment and shore up these protections, we are going to unleash enormous human suffering in our region.”
Stay Housed comprises tenant advocacy organizations and legal service providers who offer a combination of tenant outreach, education and legal services across Los Angeles County, helping to ensure that tenants know their rights, and providing legal representation for the most pressing cases.
However, as legal protections have subsequently been rolled back across the County, evictions have mounted. The data released by Liberty Hill shows that unlawful detainers for eviction filed in LA County have already passed 13,000 this year, matching and threatening to surpass pre-COVID totals. The data demonstrates that these eviction filings increased dramatically every time that state eviction protections were rolled back, and suggest that as the Los Angeles City Council and County Board of Supervisors allow tenant protections to expire, eviction filings could skyrocket to levels not seen since the Great Recession.
The rapid increase in the pace of evictions, and the corresponding rise in demand for legal services, comes even as the legal services that tenant lawyers can provide are stretched to capacity. In fact, the number of cases that each attorney can handle has declined slightly, as more of their cases are now moving to trial, requiring more hours per case.
“When you look at the trends over the last few months, it’s frightening,” said Almas Sayeed, Vice President of Public Partnerships at Liberty Hill Foundation and the legal services coordinator of Stay Housed LA “Stay Housed attorneys are being crushed by the burden of all these cases and the desperation of our clients — not only is it insufficient, it’s unsustainable.”
“One of our attorneys obtained a favorable decision in the third unlawful detainer case brought by the same property owner against our client,” said Trinidad Ocampo, an attorney for Neighborhood Legal Services, a Stay Housed legal services provider. “For the landlords and their attorneys, the incentive is so clear — the more cases they file, the more overwhelmed a tenant may be by the process and ultimately relent and relinquish stable and affordable housing, making them more vulnerable to homelessness. Landlords meanwhile are willing and able to spend thousands in attorneys and court fees for the potential rent hikes.”
Tenant attorneys from organizations such as the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and the Eviction Defense Network have also witnessed an escalation in shady legal tactics to drive tenants from their homes, including evictions filed against minors (instead of their lease-holding parents) and even against non-existent tenants — betting, sometimes successfully, that when a tenant doesn’t show up in court because they don’t recognize the name on the filing, they will be locked out before they can challenge the eviction.
Meanwhile, Stay Housed tenant organizers from organizations such as the Coalition for Economic Security and Strategic Actions for a Just Economy have seen unprecedented numbers of signups for workshops educating tenants about their rights with support to push back against tenant harassment and illegal lockouts.
The release earlier this month of the Greater Los Angeles County Homeless Count showed that previous double-digit year-over-year rises had fallen to 4%. But the increase in eviction filings after a dip threatens to reverse that limited progress.
One potential source of hope for tenants and the organizations working to assist them is Measure ULA on the LA City ballot this November. If it passes, the measure is expected to raise more than $900 million every year and fund a number of housing initiatives in Los Angeles city, including sufficient funding to support a right to counsel.
“The pandemic years showed us that with resources and policy, we can keep people housed,” said Shane Murphy Goldsmith of the Liberty Hill Foundation, one of 202 organizations to endorse Measure ULA. “The tools are in front of us: City Council and the Board of Supervisors must pass policies to guarantee representation and restrict evictions, and voters must pass Measure ULA to fund those protections. We need to seize this moment if we’re going to keep ourselves out of the abyss.”
