The Brief

The city of Los Angeles passed a law in 2021 giving tenants new rights against harassment by their landlords. But since then, tenant advocates say few landlords have faced consequences.

City records show it’s not due to a lack of reported problems.

The L.A. Housing Department has received 10,450 harassment complaints from tenants since the law took effect, a department spokesperson told LAist. The department has referred 24 of those cases to the city attorney’s office, which declined to comment on whether any of those cases have been prosecuted.

“There's no public enforcement going on,” said Sean Bigley, an attorney with the Legal Aid Foundation of L.A. who focuses on harassment cases. “The city attorney has not prioritized it in any way whatsoever.”

On Wednesday, the city council voted on a plan to step up enforcement. They voted 13-0 to pass a motion instructing the L.A. Housing Department to begin looking for legal aid organizations that can provide representation to tenants experiencing harassment.

The efforts are part of a new anti-harassment program with an initial $3 million in funding from Measure ULA, the voter-approved tax on properties selling for $5 million or more. ULA revenue has been far less than projected, but small rounds of funding have already been allocated to eviction defense and COVID-19 rent relief.

Tenant advocates say harassment is widespread 

Tenant advocates say they often see cases of landlords harassing long-term tenants into leaving rent-stabilized apartments, with the apparent goal of bringing in higher-paying tenants. Under the city’s rent control rules, landlords can charge whatever the market will bear on vacant units, but they can only increase rents on existing tenants by a set percentage each year.

“Harassment has always existed,” said Edna Monroy, director of the tenant rights protection team at Strategic Actions for a Just Economy. “[The pandemic] further aggravated it, because unfortunately, a lot of tenants were not able to pay their rent due to COVID-19.”

Forms of harassment include landlords entering apartments without notice, shutting off utilities, refusing to make repairs, taking away amenities like parking spots, and verbal or physical abuse, Monroy said.

In one dramatic example, the Los Angeles Times reported that landlord Arthur Aslanian was convicted of hiring someone to set fire to bungalow apartments he owned in North Hollywood where long-term tenants say they were being harassed into leaving. Aslanian was also convicted of hiring an undercover federal agent to kill a business opponent.

Landlord groups say harassment claims are often vague or overblown. Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles executive director Daniel Yukelson said in some cases, landlords are being harassed by tenants.

“Very often these harassment allegations are a tactic used by tenants to obfuscate the fact a tenant is not in compliance with their lease agreement,” Yukelson said, such as failing to pay rent.

Tenant rights groups pushed for the passage of the city’s Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance in 2021, but have been disappointed to see little enforcement from the city so far.

“We really need the city attorney to start prosecuting landlords,” Monroy said. “We really need them to investigate these cases.”

What has the city done so far?

The two dozen cases referred to the city attorney’s office may not have resulted in prosecution. But the city’s law allows tenants to proactively sue their landlords on their own. A small number of tenants have succeeded in bringing harassment cases against their landlords in small claims court.

But Bigley, the Legal Aid Foundation of L.A. attorney, said lawyers are generally wary of pursuing harassment cases because the city’s ordinance does not require landlords to pay tenants’ attorneys fees if they’re found to have engaged in harassment.

“It's death,” Bigley said. Other cities such as Santa Monica have anti-harassment laws that do require landlords to pay attorney fees, and L.A. should follow suit, he said. “Plaintiff’s firms can't make it their business to do this sort of thing without a mandatory attorneys fees provision in the statute.”

With new funding, could more tenants win in court?

Still, tenants have seen some victories in court.

Though the case never went to trial, the real estate investment group K3 Holdings LLC recently settled a lawsuit including allegations that the company harassed long-term Latino families living in rent-stabilized apartments in Koreatown and Highland Park.

In another recent case, the L.A. Tenants Union said a landlord who unsuccessfully filed for eviction was found by a jury to have harassed two tenants by retaliating against them for organizing with the union.

Tenant advocates say outcomes like these could become a lot more common once the city’s $3 million ULA Protections from Tenant Harassment Program is up and running.

Legal aid organizations have lately focused primarily on eviction defense work, especially as eviction filings rise in the wake of local COVID-19 protections falling away. But Monroy said her organization sees plenty of renters showing up at monthly tenant harassment clinics hoping to get referrals to to legal aid organizations.

“At the end of the day, what we want is for tenants to be respected, to be at peace in their home and not be displaced,” Monroy said.

Local leaders mourned the death of civil rights icon Dolores Huerta on Wednesday and honored her legacy as a dedicated advocate for workers’ and women’s rights. 

Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers union to improve working conditions in the nation’s fruit and vegetable fields and coined the phrase “Sí, se puede!,” died Wednesday at home, her family said in a statement. She was 96. 

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis said they considered Huerta a friend and credited her as a source of inspiration in their work. 

“Dolores inspired so many of us to activism. I admired her from a very young age, and it was an incredible honor and privilege not only to meet and know her, but to call her a friend,” Bass said in a statement. “She inspired me through tough times and taught me to never give up. She supported me in every campaign and challenge I faced.”

“Dolores carried the fight into every arena where people were denied a voice. She championed women’s rights, reproductive freedom, and gender equality, and she organized communities, here in Los Angeles and across the nation, so that all people had a stronger voice in the decisions that shape their lives. Her legacy is one of dignity and equality for all, and proof of what ordinary people can accomplish when they organize,” her statement continued. 

“Dolores reminded us that no matter the odds, no matter the obstacle, we can build a greater life for ourselves, our community, our city, and our country. She never, never stopped working. She was fighting for civil rights every day, into her nineties,” Bass added. “Rest in power, Dolores. Thank you for everything.”

Solis described Huerta as “a source of strength, a trusted friend and a partner in some of the most important fights of my career.”

“Growing up in the San Gabriel Valley, I rarely saw Latinas in positions of leadership. Dolores was one of the few women who showed me what was possible. I remember seeing the iconic photograph of her holding the ‘Huelga’ sign and drawing strength from her example. She helped me understand that women like us had a place in public life and a responsibility to speak up for those too often ignored. That lesson stayed with me throughout my career,” Solis added.

Dolores Huerta, co-founder of United Farm Workers, looks at an iconic photograph of herself as she tours her exhibition, “Viva la Causa! Dolores Huerta and the Struggle for Justice,” at La Plaza de la Cultura y Artes museum downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, April 10, 2014.

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Damian Dovarganes

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Associated Press

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Solis described how she and Huerta stood side by side at rallies and demonstrations in Sacramento and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, advocating for workers’ rights and women’s rights.

“Dolores understood the importance of showing up, bearing witness and refusing to let the suffering of women go ignored. I will always remember standing beside her in that fight,” her statement continued. 

In 2024, Solis authored a motion to proclaim Dolores Huerta Day in L.A. County every year on Huerta’s birthday, recognizing her lifelong commitment to workers’ rights, justice and equality.

Solis also acknowledged Huerta’s revelation earlier this year that she was sexually abused in the 1960s by César Chávez, co-founder of the farmworkers movement.

“Her decision to speak publicly about what she endured deserves to be met with compassion and respect. I stand with Dolores and all survivors who deserve to be heard and treated with dignity. … Dolores helped build that movement, and her contributions must be recognized without being overshadowed by the actions of others,” her statement continued.

“She spent her life reminding us that progress takes persistence and that lasting change comes when people stand together. I have lost a dear friend whose example will stay with me for the rest of my life,” Solis added.

Civil rights legend Dolores Huerta, 95, speaks at a rally in Los Angeles, Monday, June 9, 2025, calling for the release of labor union leader David Huerta, who was arrested during a protest on June 6

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Damian Dovarganes

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Associated Press

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District 14 Councilmember Ysabel Jurado also shared personal memories of the late labor leader. 

“When I took office, it was Dolores who swore me in. I didn’t take that moment lightly, and I never will. I raised my hand knowing I wasn’t just making a promise to CD14. I was accepting a responsibility she passed on: to fight for workers, for immigrant families, for women, for the people too often left out of the room,” Jurado said in a statement. “Her legacy lives on in me, in our office, and in every organizer she trained. Descansa en poder, Dolores. We’ll keep going.” 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in her honor, sharing in a statement, “Dolores represented the best of us. California — and the United States — would not be what we are today without her resolute spirit, her passion for justice and fairness, and her commitment to those overlooked and forgotten.”

Solis also ordered all L.A. County flags to be lowered to half-staff in honor of Huerta until her services, she said in a statement Wednesday. 

The post ‘A source of strength’: LA leaders mourn Dolores Huerta’s death appeared first on LA Local.

Almost two years since the Eaton and Palisades fires in Los Angeles County, many fire survivors are still displaced, running out of money and waiting for long-term federal disaster aid that may not come.

If survivors have received insurance payouts, they may have depleted that money for temporary housing. Some survivors received Federal Emergency Management Agency funding for housing, too. For renters, that aid ran out on Oct. 9. Any future federal aid is up in the air — and could depend on what happens in the midterm elections.

“I’ve never been at a point in my life where I don’t know what to do, where to go, who to turn to,” said Kate Adams, who received money from FEMA toward rent for an apartment in Duarte after the Eaton Fire damaged the Altadena apartment she and her daughters had lived in for 10 years.

Adams, a real estate agent, also got some money from a local nonprofit and a California Association of Realtors grant. But even with those contributions, the cost of rent and replacing damaged belongings has exhausted Adams’ savings. She and her daughters are running out of options because there’s no more aid coming in.

“I’ve got two teenage daughters who are just starting their lives,” Adams said. “I don’t know how to keep a roof over our heads.”

A construction worker works on a house in a residential area in Altadena, on Aug. 3, 2026. The area was burned during the Eaton Fire in 2025.

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Jules Hotz

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Adams is just one of many survivors, especially renters, facing the prospect of having no place to go.

A recent survey by the Department of Angels, a nonprofit group that’s tracking recovery efforts, found that 28% of all survivors have run out of displacement coverage. The survey also found that survivors want elected officials to prioritize insurance availability and affordability; financial and tax relief; and speeding up permitting and rebuilding.

Katie Clark, co-founder of the Altadena Tenants Union, said the “situation on the ground is dire,” especially for renters. “People are wondering if they have to live out of their cars, and pull their kids out of school. We need money and housing. This is not rocket science.”

Pushing for federal funding

While officials at every level of government push for federal funding, fire survivors have traveled to Washington, D.C., to do the same. But the Trump administration has been slow to release funding to California, and it’s unclear when the billions of dollars in long-term disaster recovery money the state has requested will come — if at all. FEMA has told states they will need to handle most disasters themselves, according to a recent leaked recording from the National Emergency Management Association’s annual conference.

That alarms people like Sierra Lindsey Kos, co-founder of national nonprofit organization Extreme Weather Survivors, who said a federal funding gap strains local and state budgets.

“California communities are already confronting devastating wildfires, flooding, extreme heat, and a growing insurance affordability crisis,” Kos said. “Reducing federal disaster assistance would place even more pressure on families and communities navigating these challenges.”

President Donald Trump did not include Los Angeles County wildfire relief funding in his administration’s budget request for Congress this summer. Two members of Congress from California say the outcome of the November elections could be key to unlocking more federal aid.

U.S. Rep. Judy Chu, a Democrat from Los Angeles whose district includes Pasadena, recently helped pressure FEMA into releasing $6.6 million to pay the state back for services provided by case managers who helped people deal with insurance, FEMA aid permits for rebuilding and more.

The state requested additional funding to continue the program and was denied, but appealed. Chu said almost 1,400 open cases are waiting to be resolved. She called the program essential for survivors’ mental health.

The Department of Angels survey also asked survivors to rank their five most urgent issues right now. Mental health and long-term financial concerns came in first and second, respectively.

Chu and others are advocating for long-term federal funding, too. California has requested $16 billion through the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program — $8 billion each for the Eaton and Palisades fires.

“Basic FEMA funding cannot possibly do the job,” Chu said. “(Community development grant) funds will allow for individual recovery plus other essential causes that will help Altadena to rebuild.”

Congresswoman Norma Torres, a Democrat who represents the Inland Empire, lost her Pomona home to a fire more than 20 years ago.

“I know what these families are going through,” Torres said. “Right now we should be trying anything and everything to bring some relief to victims.”

Gil Barel moves the blinds up to let in more light into her living room in Pasadena on Aug. 2, 2026. Barel is currently not living in her apartment because of the Eaton Fire of January 2025.

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Ariana Drehsler

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Torres and Chu both said that if Democrats win the House of Representatives in November, federal aid to California and other states hit by disaster could start to flow.

Torres said her office is trying to find Republican lawmakers willing to advocate for disaster aid alongside Democrats. But she said because the president has not called for the aid, they are reluctant to lend their names to any effort to do so.

“I’m hoping after the midterms that my Republican colleagues have a different perspective and try to approach things in a more humane way,” Torres said.

Chu agreed: “My hope is that the mood of Republicans will be quite different when they lose the House and possibly the Senate. And they may see this as their only ability to shape what can come to their members.”

Some Eaton Fire survivors recently went to the nation’s capital to advocate for federal aid. They were joined by survivors of the 2025 floods in Texas and of the storms and subsequent prolonged power outages in Gary, Ind., when they met with staffers of U.S. lawmakers to ask about long-term federal disaster funds.

“We’re pursuing opportunities to get members of both parties in the room and have them hear directly from survivors,” said Sylvie Andrews, whose Altadena home burned down. “I really hope they were listening to us. They seemed sympathetic.”

Bill Gould, another Eaton Fire survivor who also lost his Altadena home — along with his prosthetics because he’s a left-arm amputee — said some staffers told them it was unusual to have direct contact with fire survivors. Both he and Andrews were underinsured and have yet to rebuild; federal aid could help them.

“It will be interesting to see how midterms maybe shake some of this up,” Gould said. “At the same time, time is not our friend. For us, with our (additional living expenses coverage) and our insurance, you don’t have forever for these things to resolve.”

Local and state efforts

Last year, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger met with Trump to ask for help for their constituents as well as for the county for its infrastructure needs. Altadena has more than $2 billion worth of infrastructure to repair and rebuild, said Anish Saraiya, Barger’s director of recovery for Altadena. He also said the county is working on establishing a financial assistance program.

“While we wait for federal resources, the supervisor says we’ll find every dollar out there,” Saraiya said.

Anthony Martinez, a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom, said California has committed more than $100 million toward affordable multifamily housing in the area. He also said the state will keep pressing the federal government for more funding that can support renters, including through the community development program.

The long-term aid program is usually administered by the Housing and Urban Development Department.

“Over the last 10 years, California has received billions in federal disaster aid for wildfires, but state and local leaders have not been good stewards of those funds to help their communities recover,” HUD said in an unsigned email response to CalMatters. “HUD remains committed to being good stewards of taxpayer dollars, ensuring every cent goes to serving those in need."

The federal agency did not respond to follow-up questions.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Election officials from across California questioned the accuracy of the federal government's methodology for finding noncitizen voters after the Trump administration threatened them with criminal charges last week.

The counties on Friday were given 48 hours to commit to working with federal authorities and to segregate ballots from a list of people federal authorities claimed were likely noncitizens.

The letters said the list of names were from the same group of 20,000 people that the Trump administration flagged as noncitizens and then sued California over, demanding that state officials not count those ballots until they verify the voters’ citizenship.

State officials have questioned the accuracy of the data and have refused to comply, saying the federal government risks disenfranchising thousands of voters in an attempt to illegally meddle in state elections. On Tuesday, a federal judge appeared skeptical of the Trump administration’s legal arguments.

Meanwhile, the letters counties received last week threatened potential criminal charges for election officials who “knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens.”

Butte County Clerk-Recorder Keaton Denlay said he received one such letter and a demand to not count ballots from a list of 47 people.

“Upon inspection of the list of names, it appeared to be a print screen of a poorly formatted excel spreadsheet with missing and jumbled information,” he said in a statement.

Denlay said he reviewed the list and found that 32 of the people were not on Butte County's active voter rolls and were not sent ballots. Seven others “did not have sufficient information … to match to our voter list with confidence” since the list only contained partial names, partial addresses, no dates of birth, no drivers’ license numbers or Social Security numbers.

Six of the names belonged to people who may not be eligible to vote, but Denlay said California law requires those challenging a voter’s eligibility to have extraordinary levels of proof.

“Given the overall inaccuracy of the list provided and its lack of specificity, I believe the Department of Justice has not met that burden,” Denlay said. “There will be no further action taken at this time.”

Fresno County Registrar of Voters James Kus also received a letter, but he said he couldn't tell how many ballots federal prosecutors wanted him to segregate, since the “not particularly legible” list was a printed sheet, in small font, and “not in a format that facilitates counting or reviewing.” He said the county already follows state and federal voter registration laws.

“We will not be deviating from those legal requirements for this letter,” Kus told CalMatters in an email.

Francisco Diaz, San Benito County registrar of voters, said his office received a demand with 33 names. A preliminary review found that some on the list weren’t registered to vote.

“Hand-delivering a letter via armed federal agents with an arbitrary 48-hour deadline does not circumvent state law,” Diaz said in a statement. “We will not be intimidated by agents with guns for simply doing our jobs, nor will we be rushed into compromising confidential voter data.”

Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page said he wasn’t notified of a letter alleging his county had 1,754 “likely aliens” on the voter rolls until after business hours on Friday.

That's because, he told reporters in an email, federal prosecutors had addressed and hand-delivered the letter not to Page but to Orange County Clerk-Recorder Hugh Nguyen, who handles such documents as marriage licenses and property deeds.

On Monday, Page said federal agents delivered a correctly addressed letter to his office, along with a “data storage drive.”

Page planned to respond by the Wednesday deadline, he said.

The messy voter lists counties described fits a pattern, said David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, a nonprofit whose mission is to restore trust in the American election system

He noted that the Department of Homeland Security recently claimed that Nevada had nearly 16,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls. DHS sent the state the names of only 185 voters. Nevada officials confirmed the voters had attested they were all U.S. citizens.

Becker said the Trump administration has been making “broad political claims made with great fanfare” only to have them “fall apart as they’re subjected to scrutiny.”

“I’m not entirely sure the DOJ wants to get into court and defend its evidentiary claims because I think they would fall apart, just as we’ve seen in other states,” said Becker, a former U.S. Justice Department attorney.

In federal court on Tuesday, Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, insisted the federal list of 20,000 people was accurate.

“We stand by the reliability of the information,” he said. “We take our obligations and ethics very seriously.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Consuelo G. Flores, a multidisciplinary artist and curator based in Alhambra, has been preparing for Día de los Muertos since July.

Over these past few months, she’s hosted workshops to guide community members through the process of making altars in honor of their deceased loved ones.

The altars, also called ofrendas in Spanish, feature gifts for the deceased. Often, these gifts are something they loved when they still walked this earth — a favorite drink, or maybe a favorite food. They’re also part of Día de los Muertos, which is traditionally celebrated in the first two days of November.

Their creations are now part of a larger piece by Flores. The community altar is part of a 10-day cultural exhibition at Gloria Molina Grand Park in downtown L.A., where other artists are making ofrendas of their own.

On Wednesday, Flores will guide community members through the outdoor exhibition. She will also teach them how to make paper flowers.

The flowers are easy to make, she said. After the first few, the process becomes automatic. People start chatting.

“It's like a quilting circle,” she said. People begin to share stories about their loved ones. Strangers connect through their loss.

At her workshops, Flores has taught artists new and seasoned how to make papel picado, a traditional Mexican folk art made by cutting intricate patterns into the paper.

Her small dining room is littered with art supplies: Tissue paper in bold colors. Pipe cleaners. Scissors. Glue.

Flores keeps a permanent altar for her family in the dining room. As she and the community members worked with their hands, Flores shared everything she’s learned about the tradition’s Indigenous roots.

“Everyone I've loved and lost has given me something,” Flores told LAist.

“My dad taught me how to read in Spanish,” she said. “My mom taught me to be strong. My brother taught me about social justice. And my ex-husband, who just died, taught me to really look at things through an artistic lens, and to not hold back.”