The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday approved several recommendations that will establish a right to counsel program and codify legal defense protections for renters who might face eviction.
Council members voted 12-0 to provide a framework to expand their Eviction Defense Program, including an ordinance that would provide the right to counsel for qualified tenants, a five-year plan to roll out services citywide, and funding for additional staffing to run the program.
Council President Paul Krekorian recused himself because he is a landlord of a small rent-stabilized building. Council members Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Curren Price were absent during the vote.
Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez, who supported the recommendations, said the vote would help rectify an “unfair fight” when tenants face evictions and do not have an attorney.
The EDP launched in July 2021 to provide legal assistance and information to renters facing eviction. At the time, the council approved $63 million in a one-time fund for the EDP through June 30, 2025.
According to a report from the Housing Department, Measure ULA, 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.
The department estimates that it could represent 2,500 tenants facing eviction in the first year of the program, and could meet the expected demand of 10,000 cases by the last year of the phase.
The department proposes rolling out the right-to-counsel program in the city’s most vulnerable ZIP codes over the first three years.
New York City, San Francisco, Newark, Cleveland and Philadelphia have also established a civil right to legal representation for tenants. Soto-Martinez said that these cities’ ordinances have kept people in their homes.
The council’s Housing and Homeless Committee previously approved the recommendations in November.
Prior to the council’s discussion and vote, housing advocates and members of the coalition Keep LA Housed held a news conference outside of City Hall to express their support for the right to counsel.
“Every tenant deserves representation in court and protection against harassment from their landlord,” said Titus Fotsu, a tenant who spoke during the news conference.
While many of them were prepared to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting, due to new rules — which moved public comment to the end — many were unable to address the council.