At a remote meeting held yesterday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a temporary moratorium on evictions in unincorporated communities.
The moratorium, which was enacted on March 19 through an executive order from Board Chair Kathryn Barger, bans evictions for non-payment of rent by residential and commercial tenants impacted by COVID-19 through May 31.
Similar moratoriums have been enacted by several Los Angeles County jurisdictions, including the cities of Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Culver City, and Long Beach.
Following in the footsteps of the City of Los Angeles, the Board also banned rent increases for tenants in unincorporated communities. The rent freeze, which applies to apartments in multi-family properties built before February 1995, is retroactive to March 4 and will remain in effect through at least May 31.
“People have enough to worry about right now, with COVID-19. They shouldn’t also have to fear ending up on the streets because they can’t pay rent,” Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said in a news release. “With this motion, the County is taking urgent and necessary steps to help people stay housed and prevent the coronavirus from exacerbating our affordable housing shortage and the crisis of homelessness.”
The Board of Supervisors also voted to instruct staff to report back in seven dayswith recommendations to expand the County's temporary eviction moratorium to include all 88 cities in Los Angeles County, with the exception of those that have already adopted their own ordinances.
Other protective measures for tenants and workers now being considered by Los Angeles County stem from a motion introduced by Supervisor Hilda Solis, requesting a study of mandatory paid sick leave, right of recall for laid-off employees, and a worker retention policy.
To date, there are more than 3,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County and over 50 deaths attributed to the virus.
