August 1st marked the deadline for repayment of all COVID rent debt accrued from March 1, 2020 through September 30th, 2021. My office has been working hard to ensure L.A. tenants know their rights and what resources are available to help them through this difficult time.
If you are a renter affected by the August 1st deadline, the City’s message to you is: do NOT self-evict. If you receive a notice, file a response within five business days, and reach out to the city for support by calling 866-557-7368. For a more detailed guide to your rights and protections as a renter or landlord, please visit our CD4 Renter Rights page.
For those of us who have worked on eviction prevention or homelessness prevention work, one of the most devastating parts of the work is that the people who need support the most, often don’t know about the resources available to them. However, thanks to the new pieces of tenant protection legislation that the City Council passed at the end of January, landlords now have to inform LAHD every time they file an eviction notice - providing the city access to previously unavailable information. This means that we have the opportunity to do more to target our resources to those people who are most at risk of losing their homes because of an inability to pay.
With the partnership of LAHD, the outreach workers that are employed by the Mayor’s Fund, and staff at the Family Source Centers, the City will be reaching out to people who are receiving these notices to let them know what this notification means for them, and ensure that they are aware of any resources that are available to them, whether it be case management, legal support and settlement money for back rent owed through the Eviction Defense Program running through Stay Housed LA, or - as soon as it is available - applications for the rent relief program funded through our first tranche of Measure ULA dollars.
This is the first time the City is coordinating on a proactive campaign to reach out to vulnerable tenants and ensure that both tenants and landlords have the resources they need. If we aim to solve our homelessness crisis, then this piece of the puzzle – protecting people in their homes— is non-negotiable. We *must* prevent people from falling into homelessness in the first place.
This week’s action is an important step forward in reshaping the machinery of the city toward keeping people housed and putting homelessness prevention at the core of our mission. I am proud to be working with the Mayor, our city departments, fellow councilmembers, and community partners on this effort.