LA Council Passes $ 10 Million Plan to Help Legally Homeless People.
Dolores Rosas has lived in the same apartment in South Los Angeles for 22 years. However, she assures that they have tried to evict her on two occasions. The first time she managed to stay in the apartment, this time she continues to fight.
Rosas, 58, said she is currently paying $ 1,200 for a study she shares with her husband. They don’t get help from the government. She works recycling and her husband works as a laborer.
“Where we live there is no rent control and they wanted to increase our rent to $ 1,800. We do not have to pay that amount, “said Rosas, who added that the other tenants who live there are part of Section 8 —they receive help from the government to pay their rent— which allows them to pay that amount.
Rosas is currently receiving counseling from the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) because he refuses to pay that exorbitant amount out of pocket. However, she is afraid that one day she will come home and see an eviction order.
“We have no one to help us and we have nowhere to go,” said the tenant.
To avoid these consequences and offer more protections for City of Los Angeles tenants, the city council approved a report Wednesday authorizing a nearly $ 10 million plan for the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Fund.
The report was presented by City Council President Nury Martínez in collaboration with Councilors Mitch O’Farrell and Paul Koretz and was approved by unanimous vote.
The report gives the City’s Housing Department (HCIDLA) the authority to implement a comprehensive program with local organizations to assist low-income tenants in legal service.
The plan also prohibits evictions during the city’s local emergency – which has been extended until the end of October – for non-payment of all or part of rent due to COVID-19.
Tenants earning 80% of the area median income or less will be eligible for counseling that will include legal assistance responding to a three-day notice to vacate the home, negotiating agreements with tenants and landlords, legal representation, as well as short tenant assistance term when needed.
A long-ago fight
Joe Donlin, deputy director of the tenant organization Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE), said that before the COVID-19 crisis, there was already an eviction crisis, which many of its members have experienced.
“It is what is known as serial displacement, the same family faces one eviction after another, in fact it is one traumatic event after another, which each time leaves indelible marks on people’s physical, mental and financial health,” said Donlin. .
With orders to stay home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Donlin says, evictions could be deadly if people have nowhere else to go.
Councilmember Martinez said that during the pandemic there are landlords who refuse to honor tenant protections and try to evict them illegally.
“We cannot allow that to happen. I am an advocate for families first and this begins and ends with keeping poor working families in their homes, ”Martinez said at the press conference.
He added that many of the families who are struggling to stay in their homes at this time do not have the legal experience or the money to pay for an attorney and need help.
Donlin said that when tenants know their rights and have access to a lawyer it means the difference between being homeless or homeless.
“We know that 90% of tenants face eviction without a lawyer and in almost all cases they lose their home, even when they have a valid legal defense,” said the activist. “At the same time, we’ve seen that when tenants have a lawyer working alongside them, they keep their homes more than 80% of the time.”
Hope for the future
The plan presented will include the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles as the leading organization of the program and with the participation of organizations such as Inner City Law Center, ACCE and SAJE, among others.
Rosas said she appreciates the opportunity for this program to exist as it will allow low-income people like her and her husband to receive the appropriate counseling.
Councilman O’Farrell noted that last year it was reported that 58% of Angelenos renters said they were burdened by rent, as they did not have enough money for basic expenses such as food, clothing and transportation after paying their monthly rent.
“This program will empower residents with the knowledge of their rights to housing,” O’Farrell said.
“The action by the city council will ensure that the funds go towards providing vital legal defense assistance to tenants whose landlords choose to violate state and local emergency orders, despite the protections they have been granted.”
The plan will go live in the next two to three months and is expected to continue through 2021, Martinez said.
For information on the City of Los Angeles COVID-19 Emergency Eviction Defense Fund, call the HCIDLA hotline at 1-866-557-7368.
