One month late on rent? In Huntington Park, you could soon be protected from eviction

Normally, if tenants fall short on monthly rent, even by just a few dollars, they can quickly face eviction. But in the past few years, a handful of cities in Southern California have passed rules barring landlords from evicting tenants if they owe one month’s rent or less.

The Southeast L.A. city of Huntington Park could be the next city to pass such a rule. On Tuesday night, the City Council is expected to vote on a proposal that would give tenants protections from eviction if they’ve failed to pay up to one month’s worth of rent.

Mateo Gil, an organizer with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, said renter protections are urgently needed following federal immigration sweeps in Southeast L.A.

“There's a lot of renters now who are at risk of not being able to pay their rent because their family members were kidnapped, or are having to fundraise because of the fear around going to work,” Gil said. “This is a protection that would give renters more time if they recently lost income."

Will the rules lead to tighter tenant screening?

But landlord advocates said the proposed rule would mean rental housing owners couldn’t count on timely payment as required by the lease terms signed by tenants.

“This idea will ultimately harm the very people it aims to help,” Fred Sutton, spokesperson for the California Apartment Association, said in an email to LAist. “Out of concern about not being compensated, housing providers may tighten screening criteria, making it harder for people to find a home.”

L.A. was the first local city to pass a threshold for eviction over non-payment of rent in 2023. The city pegs the limit to one month of the area’s “fair market rent” as determined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Under those rules, if an L.A. tenant renting a two-bedroom apartment is behind on rent by less than $2,601, they have local protections from eviction.

A push to expand non-payment protections

The city of Cudahy, which borders Huntington Park, passed a similar non-payment eviction threshold in October.

About 75% of Huntington Park households are renters, and nearly 97% of residents are Latino.

ICE raids have targeted the city, which also saw an instance of someone allegedly impersonating a federal immigration agent earlier this summer.

Gil said organizers are now fighting for similar changes in Bell Gardens. He said a one-month threshold could give tenants time to apply for rent relief programs. But he acknowledged that for some, the buffer period won’t be enough to stave off eviction.

“We're advocating at the county level as well for there to be a much larger threshold,” Gil said. “Some of the impacts of the ICE raids are going to be months long.”