The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday is expected to vote on several recommendations that will establish a right to counsel program and codify legal defense protections for renters who may face eviction.
Prior to the council’s discussion and vote, at 8:30 a.m. housing advocates and members of the coalition, Keep LA Housed, will have a news conference outside of City Hall to express their support for right to counsel. Organizers will urge city leaders to act on “rent debt before it’s too late,” according to its post on social media.
According to a report from the Housing Department, the Eviction Defense Program launched in July 2021 to provide legal assistance and information to renters facing eviction.
At the time, council approved $63 million in one-time fund for EDP, which the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles delivered and was expected to through June 30, 2025.
The recommendations before the council Tuesday would provide a framework to expand EDP for right to counsel protections — including an ordinance that would provide the right to counsel for qualified tenants, a five-year phase in plan to roll out services citywide, and funding for additional staffing to run the program.
According to a report from the Housing Department, the United to House ULA (ULA) measure, approved by voters in November 2022, provided the city a permanent source of funding for the department to expand EDP to eventually provide legal services to all eligible renters facing eviction citywide.
If approved, in the first year of the program, LAHD estimates it could represent 2,500 tenants facing eviction, and could meet the expected demand of 10,000 cases by the last year of the phase.
The department proposes rolling out the RTC program to the most vulnerable ZIP codes over the first three years.
New York City, San Francisco, Newark, Cleveland and Philadelphia also established civil right to legal representation for tenants.
The L.A. City Council’s Housing and Homeless Committee previously approved the recommendations in November.