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Local Advocacy Update
Local Advocacy Update
By Danielle Leidner-Peretz, Director, IGovernment Affairs & External Relations
want to take this moment to wish everyone a very healthy and happy New Year!
It has been nearly two years since the COVID- 19 pandemic began in 2020. Throughout this time, multifamily rental housing providers have been subject to government mandates restricting business operations. As we begin 2022, the Association will continue to strongly advocate for the repeal of temporary eviction moratoriums and/or rent increase freezes
currently in effect in localities including the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, and Pasadena. These localities must seek a path forward and long-term solutions, not the continual extension of interim, temporary emergency measures.
As 2021 drew to a close, rent control, “just cause” eviction requirements, and related measures were among the issues discussed in cities such as Baldwin Park, Bell Gardens, Beverly Hills, and Long Beach. It is also anticipated that the City of Oxnard will return sometime this month with a proposed local ordinance incorporating the provisions of Assembly Bill 1482, the statewide rent control and renter protection law, with a reduced annual rent increase limitation of 5%. The Association is strongly opposed to rent control and will continue to urge city councils to recognize the detrimental consequences of these draconian measures and their long-term impacts on housing stock.
Our Association is continually monitoring and advocating for our members interests in localities throughout Southern California on these and many other critical issues affecting the rental housing industry. Summarized below are some of the issues that will be coming up, that were considered or that have been approved.
Los Angeles City Council Requests Report on Ordinances / Policies Linked to City’s Local Emergency
At the December 7th Los Angeles City Council meeting, the City Council directed the City’s Administrative Officer (CAO) to report back in 30 days on all emergency ordinances and policies that are in effect for the duration of the local emergency. The purpose of the report is to help inform the Council about policies that are connected to the City’s declaration of local emergency so that they can determine what actions to consider going forward. The City’s eviction moratorium and rent increase freeze are two ordinances that are tied to the local emergency
and; therefore, fall within the scope of the report. The Association supports this assessment, which is a long overdue first step.
Since the expiration of the State’s eviction moratorium on September 30, 2021, the Association has strongly advocated for the City Council to end the local eviction moratorium and rent increase freeze. The City’s residential eviction moratorium and rent increase freeze were established in 2020 as interim emergency measures necessitated by a global pandemic and government mandated stay at home orders that resulted in business shutdowns and escalating unemployment. Both of these City ordinances’ expiration dates are directly tied to the expiration of the City’s local emergency, which at this time is a date uncertain. Moreover, the rent increase freeze ordinance applies to all City renters residing in RSO units regardless of COVID-19 impact and as currently written would remain in effect for one year following the termination of the emergency.
The circumstances that precipitated these emergency measures have significantly changed with the State being fully re-opened since June 2021 and businesses fully operational. The multifamily rental housing industry is the only business that has been prevented from resuming normal operations. It is time that the City bring these interim measures to an end and enable rental housing providers to recover.
The CAO report will be due within the first days of 2022. The Association will strongly advocate for the Council’s immediate action to evaluate the report, the related City’s eviction moratorium and rent increase freeze and for the setting of a specific date for their expiration.
Los Angeles City Council Extends Declaration of Local Emergency for Another 30 Days
At the December 8th Los Angeles City Council meeting, the City Council extended the local emergency for another 30 days and through that action the extension of the City’s temporary eviction moratorium applicable to all City residential rental units and the rent increase freeze which applies to rental units subject to the City’s rent stabilization ordinance.
During this meeting, a small, yet significant shift occurred, as both Councilmembers Buscaino and Lee expressed their objections to the continuation of the declaration of the local emergency and voted against the extension.
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