After a lengthy discussion, the Los Angeles City Council voted Friday to prohibit the eviction of tenants whose rental assistance applications have been approved but who have not yet received their funds.
The move comes days before the deadline for tenants to pay pandemic-era rent arrears. Under the city's plan to end COVID-19 eviction protections, unpaid rent accrued from Oct. 1, 2021 through Jan. 31, 2023 is due Thursday.
More than 25,000 applicants are waiting to find out if they are eligible to receive funds from the United to House LA Emergency Tenant Assistance Program, which provides up to six months of unpaid rent for qualified and selected tenants and landlords.
Approximately 3,200 applicants were approved for the program, but most did not receive its aid. Only 25% of the $30.4 million allocated for emergency assistance has been distributed.
Tenants who did not apply for the program or were not approved could face eviction if they do not make outstanding payments by Thursday. The deadline to apply was in October.
The City Council motion, introduced by Councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez and Paul Krekorian, was originally intended to protect all tenants who applied for the United to House LA program, regardless of their application status.
After opposition from groups representing landlords, the motion was amended to prohibit evictions only for applicants whose applications have been approved. Those people will be protected from eviction for 120 days after February 1 while their rental assistance funds are processed.
“Tenants who have already been approved for emergency rental assistance should not be evicted while they wait for their checks,” Krekorian said. “Their landlords will get paid, so they shouldn't fire tenants just because it took a little longer for the city to get them the money.”
Applicants who have not yet been approved but are qualified will receive the same protections once approval has been granted.
Daniel Yukelson, CEO of Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles, said the motion was unfair to small landlords who depend on rent payments for their livelihood.
Before the amendment was enacted, the motion would have prevented landlords from evicting tenants for an indefinite period of time while they waited for their application to be processed.
“Landlords wouldn't participate in the program if they knew this would be the ramification,” he said. “It's not as egregious as it would have been without this amendment.”
Fred Sutton, senior vice president of local public affairs for the California Apartment Association, also said the amendment was key. But he's still wary of how long it will take for tenants and landlords to receive their money.
“It's just a matter of those funds getting to the individual,” he said, “but we are very concerned about the procedural bureaucracy that takes so long to get these dollars out the door.”
Sutton also criticized the “rushed” timeline of the City Council motion, which was introduced Wednesday.
“There was one business day to review a very broad and somewhat complicated motion and at a procedural level that should not be acceptable,” he said.
Hernandez said it was necessary to approve the motion before the rent payment deadline.
“With the February 1 rental debt deadline approaching and thousands of renters at risk of eviction, it is up to us to do everything we can to stop the homeless eviction process and keep people in their homes,” said. “The city can and must do more to keep Angelenos housed.”
