LA Rents Have Been Frozen Since Early 2020. Some Council Members Want Another Six-Month Pause

For three and a half years, rents have been frozen in most apartments in the city of Los Angeles. But with rent hikes of up to 9% scheduled to be allowed soon, some city council members want to extend the ban another six months.

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez introduced a motion this week to delay the return of rent increases from Feb. 1, 2024 to Aug. 1, 2024. The proposal was seconded by councilmember Eunisses Hernandez.

Soto-Martinez told LAist the looming rent increase would be “catastrophic” for the city’s housing crisis.

“We know because of U.S. government studies that it will increase homelessness,” said Soto-Martinez, referencing a 2020 U.S. Government Accountability Office study that found a $100 increase in median rents is associated with a 9% increase in homelessness rates.

Where the ban came from — and how it’s set to change

The city’s rent freeze took effect at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when elected officials were concerned about widespread job loss hindering renters’ ability to keep up with housing costs. Those concerns were especially high in cities like L.A., where most residents rent their homes and most of those renters are paying more than what’s considered affordable by federal standards.

The rent freeze applies to housing covered by the city’s rent control ordinance. That law generally applies to rental housing built before 1978, and it covers about three-quarters of all apartments within city limits.

Rents have stayed flat for most rent-controlled tenants since early 2020. But the city has also seen a surge in illegal rent hike complaints, including from tenants who say they've been caught in a “loophole” that allows large increases based on discounts renters argue were hidden in lease agreements.

The L.A. housing department has begun telling landlords they can soon — for the first time since the pandemic — legally raise rents. Unless the city council approves a change, the allowable increase will be 7% on Feb. 1, plus an additional 2% for landlords who pay for tenants’ gas and electric bills.

Soto-Martinez, one of the few renters elected to influential political positions in Los Angeles, said that could translate into hundreds of dollars more each month for many tenants.

“This is not the moment to have such a large increase,” he said.

Tenant advocates have been campaigning to preserve the rent freeze in recent months. L.A. Tenants Union organizer Rose Lenehan said the rent freeze has helped tenants at a time when many have struggled economically.

“That's been incredibly helpful,” Lenehan said. Resuming increases, she said, “would really push some people over the edge.”

Landlords urge city to lift prohibition

But landlords say the city’s rent freeze has lasted far too long. Other cities across the country have removed pandemic-era restrictions on rent increases, and landlord advocates want L.A. to follow suit.

Another six-month delay would be “really unreasonable,” said Fred Sutton, spokesperson for the California Apartment Association. “The goalposts keep moving.”

Shelley Hughes, a member of the Coalition of Small Rental Property Owners, owns a two-unit property in South L.A. She said the rent on each unit is below $1,000, and has stayed that way for four years. At the same time, she said, her utilities and maintenance costs have soared.

“I'm paying more out of pocket for everything,” Hughes said. “It doesn't feel like landlords are being taken into consideration at all, especially the small ones… How can I be lumped into the same category with someone who has 125 units? That's not fair.”

Proponents said a six-month delay would give city council members more time to determine what limits the city should impose on rent increases moving forward. A number of other cities with rent control in L.A. County currently cap rent increases to no more than 3%.

Allowable rent increases outpaced inflation for years 

For decades leading up to the pandemic, the city of L.A.’s rules allowed landlords to raise rents anywhere from 3% to 8% per year. The number is connected with inflation, but it never went below 3%, even though inflation has generally been lower for most of the past three decades.

A 2019 study from the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies found that the city of L.A. has one of the highest rent control floors of any city in California. The study also found that as the gap between inflation and rent increases compounded over many years, many L.A. tenants had to put more and more of their income toward rent.

For many Angelenos, the ban on rent hikes has provided some financial security.

Boyle Heights renter Jose Parra said the pandemic was challenging for his family’s business, the El Apetito restaurant on E. Cesar E. Chavez Avenue. But they pulled through. And now the family puts about a third of their household income toward the rent on their two-bedroom apartment — far less than in years past. Parra attributes the change to the city’s rent freeze.

“That kind of balanced things out,” he said. “They should keep it, because there's a lot of low-income families here that can't afford for our rent to keep going up.”

The family’s restaurant could soon be demolished as part of a proposed 50-unit apartment building development. Parra worries about the future of El Apetito — and the possibility that his rent could soon go up 7% or more.

“If they displace us and I go try to rent somewhere else, I won't be able to afford it,” Parra said.

The six-month delay proposal is still in early stages. It will first need to pass the city council’s housing committee, which is scheduled to meet next week. Then, it would need to go to the full council for a final vote before potential approval.