LA City Council Committee Rejects Rent Increase Ban Extension, But Instead Approved a plan with a 4% Rebt Increase

Article by NBC NEWS

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Los Angeles Lowers Upcoming Rent Increase, Denies Extending Rent Freeze

After hours of debate and public input, the Los Angeles City Council voted on Tuesday to let landlords, or the first time since March 2020, increase rents in the city’s rent-controlled apartments 4%, and up to 6% if the landlord pays for both gas and electricity, beginning February 1, 2024.

The vote was 10-2, with Councilmembers Traci Park and John Lee siding with landlords and voting against the lower increase amounts.

If the Council hadn’t taken action, the City would have allowed landlords with rent-controlled properties to increase rents by 7% to 9% starting on Feb. 1.

Councilmembers Paul Krekorian, Katy Yaroslavsky and Curren Price recused themselves because they own rental properties.

Continuing the Rent Freeze Proposed First

On October 25, Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez introduced a motion that sought to extend the existing freeze on rent increase to rent-controlled units for an addition 6 months. Tenant groups, including CES, supported the motion.

On November 1, at the Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, Councilmember Bob Blumenfield successfully proposed a compromise to extending the rent freeze, which tied rent increases to the most recent consumer price index, which would allow a 4% rent increase, instead of what would have been a 7% increase. The Committee approved the compromise with Councilmembers John Lee and Monica Rodriguez opposing it.

Amendments Fail

At Tuesday’s full Council meeting a number of amendments were proposed.

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez’ first amendment would have undone the compromise and returned to a freeze on rent increases until the Housing Department finished studying the matter and the council took action on the report. That only received support from Hernandez, Soto-Martinez and Nithya Raman.

Hernandez than offered a motion to to keep the 4% limit with no additional 2% for landlords who cover utilities

Council member Tim McOsker proposed allowing small landlords with 12 units or fewer to raise rents 7% to 9%, while preserving the lower 4% to 6% limit for larger landlords.

All the proposed amendment failed to receive the votes to pass.

Concern for So-Called Small Landlords Ignores Plight of

Their Tenants

The obsession with protecting small landlords totally ignores that the tenants living in these units cannot afford the larger rent increase. Instead, valid small landlords who truly need help should be provided government financial assistance, not saddling tenants with additional rent hikes they can’t afford.

A Los Angeles City Council committee has rejected calls for an extension of the ban on rent increases that started during the COVID-19 pandemic and is instead offering a plan with a smaller increase.

The committee has approved a plan to allow apartment rents to increase by 4% in 2024 rather than 7%, with an additional 2% for owner and paid utilities. The plan would go into effect in February.

The six-month extension for the rent increase ban was proposed by council member Hugo Soto-Martinez. The 4% increase plan will now go before the City Council for a vote on Wednesday.

“Four percent is better than seven percent, but even four percent is going to hurt a lot of people in the city,” Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross said.

LA Comes Up Short, Other Cities Do Better

Los Angeles fell short for tenants in comparison to other neighboring cities. With this decision, the City of LA will have some of the highest permissible rent hikes among other cities in the area that have rent control laws.

Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Santa Ana have all set allowable increases below 3%. The L.A. County Board of Supervisors approved allowable rent increases of up to 4% in rent-controlled housing starting next year in County unincorporated areas.