LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The City Council Tuesday will consider an ordinance that would temporarily prohibit landlords from evicting tenants for having unauthorized occupants and pets, who have been displaced by the multiple fires that erupted in January.
City Councilwoman Traci Park, who represents the Pacific Palisades, introduced an emergency motion calling for such protections on Jan. 14, a week after the fires started on Jan. 7.
Park proposed prohibiting evictions of tenants who welcomed displaced residents and their pets for one year.
“Some impacted people and their pets are currently staying with friends and family in rental properties that may not allow pets or additional persons under current leases,” the motion reads.
“To prevent further instability and distress, it is necessary to learn more about the impact of the fires on our city’s housing stock and to update the municipal code as soon as possible to provide eviction protections related to relocated people and pets,” the motion continued.
The City Council is expected to vote on the matter just five days after shooting down a separate proposal from council members Hugo Soto-Martinez and Eunisses Hernandez, who called for a more widespread set of tenant protections for residents who lost their homes and livelihoods as a result of the fires.
The council voted 10-3 to send back the proposal back to committee for further discussion, which also sought a one-year rent-hike moratorium for all apartments in the city through Jan. 31, 2026.
More than 100 people — a mix of landlords and renters — showed up to Council Chambers to share their thoughts on the contentious policy.
David Kaishchyan of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles had argued against the rent-hike freeze and eviction moratorium, arguing that it would create “mountains of unpaid back rent.”
Carlos Singer, chief of policy for the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce, said the proposal would discourage investors from developing in the city during a time when Los Angeles needs to draw on historic amounts of money to finance rebuilding efforts.
Tenant and housing advocate groups such as Strategic Actions for a Just Economy and ACCE, among others, supported the protections.
“Tenants were already struggling to pay rent, saddled with rent debt and one missed paycheck away from losing their homes,” said Christina Boyer, an attorney with Public Counsel and a member of Keep LA Housed. “The fires have only made this dire situation worse and people have a real risk of losing their houses.”
Meanwhile the L.A. County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution on Jan. 21, similar to what Park has proposed, that enacted eviction protections for renters who opened their homes to people or pets displaced by the wildfires. It also promoted increased short-term rental availability.
Tenants in the unincorporated areas of the county are protected against eviction when hosting unauthorized occupants or pets displaced by the fires until May 31, 2026.
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