Citing fallout from ICE raids, LA County raises threshold for evicting tenants late on rent

Renters in Los Angeles County who fall behind on rent by up to two months could soon be protected from eviction under a new rule forwarded Tuesday by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.

The board voted 4-1 to forward the new rule, which still needs a second vote before taking effect. Supervisor Kathryn Barger cast the lone no vote.

The proposal builds on an existing rule that gives renters protection from eviction if they’re late on rent by up to one month’s worth of the region’s “fair market rent” as determined by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department.

Citing economic hardship many families are facing because of federal immigration raids, county supervisors decided to raise the existing one-month threshold to two months. The change, which landlords opposed, will mean that tenants in a two-bedroom apartment can be late on rent by up to $5,202 and still have local protections enabling them to fight an eviction in court.

“ICE raids have been devastating our entire region,” said Supervisor Lindsey Horvath. “We’ve heard clearly today that more protection is needed.”

Two months could turn into three 

Horvath said she would introduce another motion to hold a follow-up vote next Tuesday on increasing the threshold to three months and making it apply countywide. Her statement came in response to tenant advocates who said the change didn’t go far enough, in part because it only applies in unincorporated parts of L.A. County, not in the region’s 88 incorporated cities.

Horvath said making the protections apply countywide is possible under the county’s emergency declaration tied to the federal immigration raids.

Tenant advocates have been calling for stronger renter protections since the Trump administration deployed more immigration agents and sent troops into Los Angeles last summer. Andrea Gonzalez, deputy director of the Clean Carwash Worker Center, said families urgently need relief after the detention of more than 370 local car wash workers.

“Many of the folks who have been taken are the main providers or the breadwinners of their family, which has now caused and left their families facing the probability of being evicted because of the economic instability that these raids have caused to our community,” Gonzalez told the board during public comment.

Tenant relief or ‘policy extremism’? 

Landlords said the move was an overreach.

Fred Sutton, a spokesperson for the California Apartment Association, described the proposal as “policy extremism disguised as compassion.”

“Housing providers are not banks, and housing policy should not be built on compelled non-payment,” Sutton said.

He said stricter limits on eviction would lead to tighter tenant screening by landlords, which would reduce housing options for many tenants.

The proposal still needs to come back to the Board of Supervisors for a final vote. Tuesday’s vote instructed county lawyers to present a final ordinance within 30 days.