Dozens of members of the Keep LA Housed Coalition, a group of tenants’ rights advocates, attorneys and community organizations, rallied to call for changes to rent increase permits governed by the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance. (RSO).
The RSO, supported by almost all members of the City Council, has not been put to a vote because authorities from the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHDA) have not presented them with the independent report that was commissioned from the Economic Roundtable, given to them. know from September 24.
The formula proposed by all Keep LA Housed members is very simple: they want a floor increase in rent each year from 0% and a maximum of 3% annually.
“For 23 of the last 40 years, homeowners have been able to raise rents more than 3%, and that is not fair,” said Sergio Vargas, an activist with the Alliance for California Communities (ACCE).
At present, increases can rise from 3% to 8%, plus 1% for gas, 1% for energy. In the end, a rent increase could reach 10% annually.
“For us, this formula is obsolete and that is why we have to eliminate it and we ask our councilors to support us to change this formula,” Vargas added.
Report withheld by the Department of Housing
“There is an analysis of how this issue should be moved to the forefront, what the impacts are on families and how much the rent should increase,” declared Councilor Eunisses Hernández, to La Opinión. “That report has to come out immediately so that the Council can make decisions to implement the law of the Rent Stabilization Ordinance.”
Hernández said he did not know the reason why the report was withheld.
“Action is needed now and for my colleagues on the city council to make the decision to protect our tenants,” he added. “We need that policy to regulate rent to support our tenants.”
The need for the law is imperative, because, in fact, in District 1 of Los Angeles that she represents, since the beginning of 2024, 100 eviction requests have been filed every week. Most of those claims are for non-payment.
“The time has come to update the rent stabilization ordinance and end outdated annual allowable rent increases that are out of reach for too many households,” he added.
“A rent increase is not just another bill. It is the difference between paying for food or keeping a family roof over their heads,” Hernández said.
About one million of Los Angeles’ 1.5 million households rent their homes, and about 650,000 of those homes are in units covered by the RSO ordinance, which applies to units built before 1979.
They advocate the formula of increase from 0% to 3%
“The rent is too high for the residents,” said Christina Boyar, an attorney with Public Counsel. who warned that the clock is ticking for tenants, who would receive rent increase notices next January.
“The Department of Housing must publish its analysis and recommendations as soon as possible so that the Council can make decisions before the end of the year,” he said.
Boyar confirmed that the Economic Roundtable study confirms that the city of Los Angeles can and should reduce rent increases.
The lawyer pointed out to Public Counsel that the current rent increase formula only benefits homeowners, to the detriment of tenants. Which exceed the costs of inflation
They want to run it at any cost
Rent increases for units covered by the RSO occur in two ways: When a new tenant moves in, the rent can be set at market levels and there is no initial ceiling. During a lease, rents may increase based on allowable general annual increases.
Additionally, every four years, approximately half of the RSO units change and rents are offered at market rate to new tenants.
“I rent a four-bedroom house; I pay $1,821 a month and the new owner harasses me too much to make me leave,” said Rosalba Vargas. “She wants to get rid of me at any cost, because she wants more money.”
The essential problem is that one-fifth of families – almost 300,000 – who rent in Los Angeles have incomes below the federal poverty line and half of them spend more than 90 percent of their income on rent.
The poverty guidelines for 2024 in Los Angeles, according to the United States Census, were $15,060 for one person; $20,440 annually for two people and $25,820 for a family of three or $31,200 for four individuals.
40,000 homeless students
Gloria Martínez, treasurer of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), called on municipal government officials “to listen to the anxiety of our students who face daily problems of housing, immigration status and mental health, both inside the classrooms and outside.” of them.”
Martínez said that he also hopes that the public understands how students’ anguish and fears shape their learning conditions in the city of Los Angeles, “where there are more than 40,000 students who enter their classrooms without having a place to go.” they can call home.”
“Although the number of homeless people in the city has decreased slightly, the reality is that LAUSD experienced an increase in homeless students in the last school year,” said the UTLA official.
Sharon Sandow, director of communications for the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD), responded to Real America News about the Economic Roundtable’s analysis by saying: “We anticipate that the report on the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO) will be heard in the Council sometime in November.”
Asked why they have not presented it to the City Council, she said: “We received the report from the Economic Round Table, which is an advisory document, and then we needed to review it, consider the recommendations and findings.”
“Afterwards, we give a LAHD report with our recommendations and findings, which, among others, is limited to the report of the Economic Round Table. “It then goes through several levels of review, both within the LAHD and other departments, before being placed on the Council’s agenda.”
In short, the issue has not yet been scheduled for the City Council.
What’s in the Economic Roundtable report?
Among the findings of the Economic Roundtable report written by Kenneth Baar, Patrick Burns, Daniel Flaming and Anthony W. Orlando for the Los Angeles Department of Housing, regarding the challenges faced by renters and homeowners, and the impact of The city’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance finds that:
• Approximately 35% of the rent paid by Los Angeles tenants goes, on average, to apartment building operating expenses. This includes maintenance, utilities, insurance, payroll, and other routine costs. Homeowners can use the remainder to cover mortgages and make a profit.
• From January 2020 to January 2023, 4 in 10 rent-controlled apartments in Los Angeles were vacant. When a tenant leaves a rent-controlled unit, city rules allow landlords to raise rents to market rates. These higher rents helped landlords absorb the impact of a nearly four-year freeze on rent increases.
• Many expenses have increased for homeowners in recent years, outpacing inflation. Property insurance costs have roughly doubled since 2020. However, the report notes that these expenses represent a relatively small portion of total costs.
• About one-fifth of Los Angeles renters live below the federal poverty line. According to U.S. Census data, just over half of those renters spend 90% or more of their income on rent. Rent increases can leave these low-income tenants vulnerable to street displacement and homelessness.
• The city’s current range of annual rent increases allowed (between 3% and 8% depending on inflation) is higher than the increases allowed in most other California cities with rent control.
Among the recommendations made about how the city could change its formula for determining annual rent increase limits: “remove a provision that allows landlords to increase rents an additional 1% per year if they pay for the tenant’s gas, plus another 1% if they pay for the electricity, or replace it.”
The report estimates that each 1% increase could raise rents by an additional $150 to $240 per month after 10 years, more than the actual cost of providing those public services. One option, according to the report, would be to use a surcharge that better captures the higher costs of providing those public services.