Two motions on the Board of Supervisors agenda for Tuesday — both meant to help those in need — underscore the divergent realities faced by Los Angeles County residents.
The board is set to consider extending a moratorium on evictions through Sept. 30, which some say is necessary to prevent a further increase in homelessness.
The board had intended to revisit the county ordinance — first imposed by executive order in March — on a monthly basis.
However, Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis said action should be taken now to give hundreds of thousands of households some certainty about their immediate financial future.
“Many workers remain unemployed and underemployed, while businesses on the brink of reopening are once again forced to close due to recent spikes in the number of coronavirus cases in the county and rolling back on reopening of businesses statewide,” the motion read in part.
“Consequently, it is estimated that over 360,000 tenant households in Los Angeles are in imminent danger of eviction displacement with the lifting of eviction moratoria.”
Kuehl and Solis also propose making the county’s ordinance the baseline for all of the county’s 88 cities, some of which have regulations that are less comprehensive or offer fewer protections.
If their colleagues fail to approve the motion and instead extend the ordinance only through August, the next opportunity to consider the matter will not come until Sept. 15, according to the motion.
In a separate proposal related to a different emergency, Kuehl recommends updating a county ordinance to allow Malibu residents displaced by the 2018 Woolsey Fire to be allowed to build temporary housing of up to 3,000 square feet.
The blaze that ripped through nearly 97,000 acres in two counties and destroyed more than 1,600 structures and left hundreds of Malibu residents without a place to live. Many could not afford to recreate the home they had lost to the fire.
They appealed to the county to be allowed to erect temporary structures on their land while working to rebuild. Malibu is generally governed by a wide range of onerous zoning and regulatory oversight from agencies including the California Coastal Commission.
The original county ordinance allowed for temporary structures of up to 1,000 square feet.
“Some residents would like to use prefabricated structures that exceed 1,000 square feet and which cannot be easily modified to comply with this limit,” Kuehl said.
“Additionally, the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected the construction industry, resulting in slower development, and the need for residents to utilize temporary housing for a longer period of time. Therefore, I propose an update to the ordinance to expand this limit and continue the community’s path towards recovery.”