Displacement through arbitrary evictions affects the public health, safety and welfare of Los Angeles residents. Evictions destabilize communities by disrupting longstanding community networks, uprooting children from their schools, forcing low-income residents to pay unaffordable relocation costs, and pushing City residents away from important public services. Additionally, arbitrary evictions are a key driver of homelessness.
Approximately 76 percent of the multi-family rental units in the City of Los Angeles are regulated by the Rent Stabilization Ordinance (“RSO”), which protects renters from excessive rent increases and arbitrary evictions. The Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (“TPA”), codified at California Civil Code Sections 1946.2, 1947.12, and 1947.13, provides some protections against price gouging and evictions that did not previously exist for the approximately 138,000 households not covered by the RSO. Hundreds of thousands of Los Angeles households are not protected under either law.
Accordingly, the City adopts this Ordinance to provide just cause eviction protections to renters city-wide.
The TPA provides that municipalities may adopt protections after September 1, 2019, that are consistent and more protective than those provided under California Civil Code Section 1946.2. The local municipality must also make a binding finding that its ordinance is more protective than the provisions of Civil Code Section 1946.2. The City finds that this Ordinance is consistent with Civil Code Section 1946.2 and is more protective than Civil Code Section 1946.2 by further limiting the reasons for termination of a residential tenancy, providing for higher relocation assistance amounts, and providing additional tenant protections that are not prohibited by any other provision of law.