The Antelope Valley Times

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County to help struggling renters avoid eviction

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LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to help struggling renters avoid eviction and homelessness.

Supervisor Sheila Kuehl recommended providing legal services and financial assistance to people at risk of being evicted.

“In order to reduce homelessness, we must make sure we prevent people from falling into homelessness,” she said. “Legal representation plus financial assistance has been shown to prevent or delay households facing eviction from losing their homes.”

The vast majority of Los Angeles County renters who earn less than $41,500 a year pay out more than 30 percent of their income in rent, according to preliminary findings by the California Housing Partnership Corp.

Others are in more dire straits. About 41 percent of households in that income bracket spend at least half of their income on rent, leaving them just one car accident, medical bill or other emergency away from being unable to pay their landlord.

The next step can be homelessness, especially for families without access to legal help. Roughly 14 percent of individuals identified as homeless in last year’s count by the Los Angeles Housing Authority said they had lost their home due to eviction or foreclosure.

Kuehl highlighted the Shriver Housing Project, an initiative launched by the courts and a public interest law office, as a model to consider as the county moves forward.

Lawyers working for the project have been able to help 42 percent of tenants facing eviction stay in their homes, according to Kuehl. Others received a reprieve of more than two months before having to move and received $5,200 in financial benefits on average.

Tenants were also typically able to have court eviction records sealed, making it easier to find a new rental unit.

The board directed the chief executive officer to evaluate how eviction defense services could be included in the county’s detailed strategies for preventing homelessness. A report is expected back in 60 days.

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Filed Under: Politics

37 comments for "County to help struggling renters avoid eviction"

  1. And then there’s a story such as ours. We are a family of four—two seniors, and two grown children (one of which has Down Syndrome). We’ve been renters in the same house for over 31 years. We have never ever missed a payment nor have we been late. Ever. We’ve taken care of a lot of repairs for the house when we could. etc etc.

    We are now going through a no-fault eviction—owners have sold the house and new owners want to tear down (of course) for new development.

    We are at a loss as what to do or where to go as our current rent is @ 1/2 of the going rent around here. So we will become yet another statistic…of what, I don’t know yet.

  2. Example many renters who have eviction on there records because loosing Section 8 because Section 8 failed to hold there worker’s accountable when giving permission to Head of household to allow another member of the family to move into the home But failed to say they had to wait till they received letter documentation by mail to allow member of household to move into home..So family looses Section 8 and fights in court but because family member moved in 2 weeks before received letter in hand they loose there Section 8 & are forced to pay 4 months of past due rent..Of Course no money to pay and the family can’t afford to stay in home at rental price which is way over local compared rent prices So this family faces Eviction & Enormous cost?? For all of you constantly putting down poor family’s Don’t Judge You don’t know the story behind the family. Now the family will face problems anywhere they rent and when family explains NO ONE LISTENS OR EVEN CARES..

  3. This comments section is even funnier than the usual.

    “Landlords should pull their property off the market/sell it/move to Cowabunga…and I’m a gonna for sure.” What exactly do you expect happens to this “pulled” property? Are you thinking the landlord is gonna BURN THE PLACE TO THE GROUND? Do you think a guy with five rental houses can afford to JUST LIVE IN THEM ALL?

    If you can’t hack it in the property rental business I’m supposed to feel more sorry for YOU than I am for a guy trying to keep a roof over his family? If you can’t hack it SELL YOUR RENTAL TO SOMEONE WHO ISN’T A CHUMP.

  4. I live in a 2 bedroom apartment in the rent has went up every year now I’ll pay $1,200 to live in the ghetto the problem is home owners who rent think that they own their tendons

  5. The outcome of this is that landlords will simply sell their homes and be done with them. It just won’t be worth it anymore to be a landlord.

    That could be a double-edged sword as it would mean that more available homes on the market in the Antelope Valley means more affordable home ownership options for young working families who are just starting out. As a rule, these families will have a pride of ownership and tend to take care of their new homes.

    The other side of the coin is that renters will now have even less options and be squeezed out of an already-tight rental market in L.A. County. This will force them to go east to Victorville, north to Kern County or possibly out of state to places like Las Vegas or Phoenix or even points east.

    The city of Los Angeles needs to get its act together and construct more affordable housing within the city limits and urban areas of L.A. where there is access to good jobs and better public transit. Every time an effort is made in this regard, the NIMBY limousine liberals try to block the effort by using state environmental laws as an argument in their favor.

    For the last two decades, L.A.’s solution to its affordable housing problem has been to turn the other cheek and send its poorest and most vulnerable people packing to live out in the Antelope Valley, the Inland Empire and the Victor Valley where transit is bad and jobs are scarce. That way, the poor and vulnerable become “someone else’s problem”.

    The limousine liberals in Los Angeles need to be held accountable for this and, when they object to affordable housing being built near them, should be told to go shove it!

    Liberals on the county board of supervisors and L.A.city council, like Sheila Kuhl, who lives in Pacific Palisades, are one of the main reasons that this problem exists in the first place!

    • @Sandy D.

      Who is forcing landlords to rent to Section 8 voucher holders? See my reply to Tom below.

    • Took the words right out of my mouth. I’ve been looking into investing for affordable rentals but there’s too many draw backs and the landlord is always the bad guy, now even more crap to worry about. No thanks

      • Yeah, you sure wouldn’t want to make money. NEVER buy rental property. Not ever. I mean, making money is for saps, right?

  6. This is absurd…. I have been a ”Landlord” in the past….Many renter’s DO NOT abide by their rental agreement or pay their rent ON TIME… I’ve also had ”roommates” who have the same issues, they don’t pay their rent on time either, so they’ve gotten evicted…. There is a BIG Difference in a ”roommate” situation tho, and the OWNER has more rights to protect their home, without going to Court!!… IF a tenant receives a ”30 Day Notice to Vacate”, & they don’t leave, the owner has to file for an ”Unlawful Detainer”, which requires hiring a Lawyer…In the interim, the tenant can do a lot of costly damage… For more information on your Rights, google ”California Bureau of Consumer Affairs”…

    • For every “tenant doesn’t pay on time” story from a landlord there’s an “arbitrarily raised the rent at the end of my lease and when I moved out it was hell getting my security deposit from them” story from a tenant. The solution isn’t really siding with one side or the other, the solution is to avoid a-holes on either side.

      Landlords and tenants who relate to each other as people seldom have problems, and generally that has to start with the landlord.

  7. I suspect (but don’t know for certain) money might come from Measure H which recently passed. It is  a quarter-cent sales tax to fund anti-homelessness programs in L.A. county.

  8. ….and who is going to help the owners that are going to go months without receiving rent and on top of that, possibly pay the tenants to get out?..or is this $5,000 coming from county?? Is county going to also pay the owners for rent that was not paid to them??? Ummm no!!! I’m sorry but that is just going to make owners not want to rent out anymore!!! What will county do for tenants then?

    • Help them buy the repossessed houses?

      Seriously, do you think landlords put up rentals just because they “want to” and that if they “didn’t want to any more” they could just stop?

      • Help them buy repossessed houses? Yes because when someone can’t pay rent on time they will surely pay a mortgage company on time.

        Perfect plan.

    • And without rent payments the landlord may land up loosing the house as well. What then? The renters got their $ to move on,while the landlord is empty handed.

  10. So bad tenants who cannot pay rent get help getting the court record sealed so they can move on, liebto the new landlord and there is no way the new landlord can find out they were just evicted. Great. The government helping badvtenants lie to landlords.

  11. Legal representation plus financial assistance does not prevent or delay households facing eviction from losing their homes but rather the availability of jobs to get homeowners employed and allow them to pay rent.
    This temporary fix only adds insult to injury for the landlord who now faces foreclosure for not being able to pay for his mortgage. The question now is can the landlord also get help from being foreclosed?

  12. … more free stuff for the illegal immigrants, and courtesy of Eric Garcetti’s measure H sanctuary city slush fund, you’re the one paying for it –

    • Do you ever feel silly about trying to tie literally everything that happens into some mad tin foil hat theory about illegal immigrants?

  14. The problem with this is that the homeowners that rent their properties out will either raise the rent or sell the properties outright to avoid the nightmare of trying the evict those who do not pay the rent.
    The county, instead of helping pay the rent that is lawfully owed to the property owner will now instead pay an attorney to help cheat them out of it.
    Many property owners could loose their properties to foreclosure while they navigate the legal system.
    Often the only option for the owners is not only to let the renters walk away from the debt that they owe but to add insult to substantial injury they will be forced to pay the tenants to leave.
    Add all of this to the horrible damage that many renters do to homes that they are being evicted from and it is becoming difficult to imagine a good reason to rent your property out at all.
    So owners pull properties from the rental market and rents go up and more people are evicted from homes they can’t afford and the lawyers get richer.
    So instead of just helping people pay their rent the county is using tax dollars to ensure that owners lose their properties, lawyers get rich, and renters get evicted anyways.
    I can not imagine the people who passed this legislation were un aware of the effects it would have so you have to ask, what is in it for them?

    • I think the only option is for landlords to request verifiable proof (money order stubs, cancelled checks, etc.) that applicants actually pay the rent on time for the last 6 months-1 year!!…..This is soooo wrong!!!

      • Even there, landlords can run into problems. I run across people offering fake paycheck stubs, rental verification services etc. on various FB groups and on craigslist. If it is an apartment building, it is easier to verify, just call the number listed for them. Private homes can be a bit trickier to verify.

  15. I am not sure sealing eviction records is fair to the next landlord. An eviction is a fair indicator that a person doesn’t pay their rent on time or even at all. it is one tool of many that a landlord uses to help determine if the tenant is a good risk. Not all evictions are the tenant’s fault, but nearly all evictions are for nonpayment of rent.

    • You’re absolutely right, not all evictions are the tenants fault. Tenants that pay rent on time while the landlord pockets the money for as long as he can till the bank forecloses on the property and evicts the tenants.

    • I just don’t think being a landlord is worth it anymore….

      Between Section 8 renters coming in and tearing houses apart and now this?

      No way!

      Time to sell the properties I own in L.A. County.

      I’ve been talking to other landlords who are going to do the same. We don’t need the headaches anymore.

      I guess if these renters want to find places to rent they’ll just have to move to San Bernardino County, Kern County or somewhere else where they can still find someone willing to put up with them.

      • Well, too, too bad.

        Why should the federal government pay you the rent through Section 8 vouchers so you don’t have to take your chances on the open market.

        Who is forcing you and other similar situated landlords to rent to Section 8 voucher holders?

        That is the biggest scandal. republicans want to cut Medicaid and other life-threatening programs but you never hear them go after Section 8. Why is that? I’m guessing because most investor landlords are republican.

        What other reason could there be for that? Are you a republican?

        • It has been toyed with in the past through various ways that a landlord might eventually have to accept section 8 . One of the reasons being talked about is that section 8 is a form of income and as such should not be discriminated against.

          The other issue is that there are so many renters who hold vouchers looking for a place. The last time I had a property available in west Palmdale, I have 75 people contact me within 24 hours. 80% of those people had vouchers. Sometimes landlords don’t have much of a choice.

      • Cool. All you guys get together and sell your houses at once. While talking about how bad it is to be a landlord. That should make a GREAT market for you all.

      • The reality of it for many small time landlords is not as simple as that. Capitol gains taxes take a nice little chunk out of any proceeds in most cases.