All about the eviction RTC efforts in the City of Los Angeles

Update Dec 2023: City instructs City Attorney to draft ordinance

As reported by the LA Daily News, the City of Los Angeles instructed its attorney to draft an ordinance that would guarantee a right to counsel to tenants facing eviction who earn 80% or less of the area median income.  The story notes that “The city’s housing department recommended that the right-to-counsel program be phased in over five years, with priority given to residents in zip codes identified as having the most number of ‘vulnerable’ residents”, and that it is expected to cost $67.8 million annually, with funding coming from  the Measure ULA ballot initiative.

Update: City of LA Housing Department report looks to advance RTC process

An October 2023 report from the Los Angeles Housing Department to the City Council responds to a Feb 2023 order by the Council to provide recommendations on a RTC ordinance.  The report calls for the City Attorney to draft an ordinance creating a RTC covering all tenants at or below 80% of area median income for both evictions and housing subsidy terminations and phasing in the RTC over five years.  The report also notes that

From the start of the program in 2021 through June 2023, the EDP has provided legal services to 7,883 households, consisting of 1,967 full-scope legal representation and 5,916 cases supported with limited-scope representation. The reported outcomes indicate that of the 715 closed full-scope legal cases, 632 cases (88%) resulted in positive outcomes for the households through staying in their homes, receiving time and money to move out, or getting a waiver of back rent.  The reported economic benefits of the closed full-scope cases indicate that the societal gains of this program over a one-year period range from $8,120,941 in short-term benefits (court fee waivers, waived back rent, and relocation assistance) to $4,614,565 in long-term economic benefits (the savings to the tenant over three years due to not moving, calculated as the difference between the tenant’s rent and the Fair Market Rent over 36 months, plus $2,000 in relocation expenses).

Update: Ballot initiative passes; city motion introduced

The UHA ballot initiative passed in November 2022, which is estimated to provide $80 million in funding for a right to counsel.  And in February 2023 “Six [Los Angeles City] council members filed a motion seeking recommendations by the Los Angeles Housing Department on establishing a Right to Counsel ordinance and program.”  The introduction was widely covered by the press, including by KCRW, Fox 11 LA, LAist, Los Angeles Daily News, NBC Los Angeles, Los Angeles Magazine, KNX News, and The Real Deal.

Update: Ballot initiative would provide funding for right to counsel

the United to House LA ballot initaitive (UHA), if enacted by voters in November 2022, would among other things provide upwards of $80 million in funding for a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction.

Update: City provides funding for move towards right to counsel

The City of Los Angeles has put $10 mlllion towards tenant defense.

Update: report finds right to counsel would save City/County of Los Angeles millions of dollars

A report for Los Angeles by Stout concludes that “With an annual investment of approximately $47.3 million by the County and $34.6 million by the City separately, the County and the City may avoid costs of approximately $226.9 million and $120.3 million, respectively”, and that “In 95 percent of cases where the tenant was represented, the tenant had a high likelihood of avoiding disruptive displacement.”

Update: City of Los Angeles adds more to eviction defense fund

This past week, in response to organizing efforts by the Los Angeles Renters Right to Coalition, the Los Angeles City Council voted to add $9 million to its eviction defense fund, bringing the total in the fund to $23.5 million.  ABC 7 had a story right before this past week’s hearing.

The Los Angeles Renters Right to Coalition has issued an open letter applauding the additional investment but taking the City to task in not codifying an actual right to counsel for any tenants.  The Coalition also pointed to a recent study by Stout of LA finding that the City would save $3.50 for every $1 spent on eviction representation.

Update: City of Los Angeles passes Phase I of right to counsel!

As reported by KTLA 5, the Los Angeles County Supervisors have passed a motion that will eviction representation pilots at 5 sites with $2 million in funding. The motion also “direct[s] the CEO to report back in the Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Recommended Budget identifying $12,500,000 annually to operate the Program going forward and take all actions necessary to allocate ongoing funding to fully implement the Program.”

Update: More than 100 gather to support right to counsel for eviction cases

ABC 7 reports that a town hall meeting on right to counsel in eviction cases drew more than a hundred people.  LA is looking to join the three other cities (NY, San Francisco, and Newark) in providing such a right.

Update: efforts continue to create and fund eviction right to counsel

Curbed LA reports that the City of Los Angeles is poised to allocate $3 million towards the eviction right to counsel effort.

Update: advocates in City of LA push for $10 million towards right to counsel

According to the LA Times, advocates in Los Angeles are urging the City to invest $10 million towards the first step of an eviction right to counsel, which would assist about 10,000 tenants.  The article explains that the Mayor supports the plan in principle.

Additionally:

• The LA Times published an editorial supporting the right to counsel in civil cases generally, saying that “The essence of the Gideon ruling was that a criminal trial in which the defendant faced prosecutors without a lawyer was inherently unfair. If that’s true in criminal cases, how could it not be equally true of landlord-tenant, child support or other civil cases?”
• The LA Times followed that piece up with another editorial, this time urging the City to adopt a right to counsel for eviction cases specificially.
• A letter to the editor in the LA Times urges a right to counsel in civil cases such as evictions and immigration by arguing that counsel “is an idea whose critical importance is well-accepted and now must be implemented.”   A second letter to the editor, written by Joe Donlin of SAJE (the main tenant organizing entity), applauded the LA Times’ editorial board in urging lawmakers to prioritize civil representation in eviction cases but says that only a right to counsel (rather than just a funding increase) will “create enduring change.”
• NCCRC participant Clare Pastore penned a piece for the San Francisco Daily Journal making the case for Los Angeles to enact an eviction right to counsel by citing to LA’s 31,000 eviction filings and 30,000 homeless persons as a compelling argument.