LA's plan to give renters free eviction attorneys as a ‘right’ moves forward

Los Angeles City Council members have voted to put the “right” back into the city’s proposal for a tenant’s “right to counsel” in eviction court, overriding an earlier draft that dropped the word.

In Wednesday’s meeting of the council’s housing committee, Councilmember Nithya Raman — who chairs the committee — introduced an amendment to alter some of the language drafted by the city attorney’s office. The earlier draft had called the effort a “City-Funded Counsel for Tenants Program” and conspicuously said it would not give renters the right to an attorney.

“I've offered some fairly minor amendments,” Raman said. “I want to call it the ‘Right to Counsel Program Ordinance.’ Other than that, to me this ordinance largely effectuates what this committee has been talking about, discussing in detail, for many, many months now.”

What’s happened so far

“Right to counsel” programs have been spreading across the country. More than a dozen cities have passed them with the goal of ensuring tenants can effectively defend themselves in court and stay housed, whenever possible.

Without a right to counsel, studies have shown the vast majority of tenants end up navigating eviction proceedings without a lawyer, while landlords almost always have legal representation.

L.A. took initial steps toward its own version when Raman and other city council members first introduced a right to counsel proposal back in February of 2023.

Elsewhere in Southern California, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors recently voted to launch a “Tenant Right to Counsel” program next year for low-income renters in unincorporated parts of the county.

The backstory to today’s vote

Advocates who favor guaranteeing free access to counsel — a long established right in criminal court — have said they were surprised to see the initial draft on Wednesday’s agenda. In it, the city attorney’s office seemed to go out of its way to clarify that L.A.’s proposal would not establish a “right to counsel.”

For supporters of publicly funded eviction defense, the changes requested by council members were welcome.

During the public comment portion of Wednesday’s meeting, Barbara Schulz with the Legal Aid Foundation of L.A. said the amendments “will make this a better ordinance.”

Landlord groups continue to argue that paying lawyers to fight for tenants is the wrong way to spend limited city funds.

David Kaishchyan with the Apartment Association of Greater L.A. said during public comment that the program’s source of funding — Measure ULA, also known as the city’s “mansion tax” — could instead be diverted to rent relief for tenants who are behind on payments.

“Rather than pursuing a program that will enrich private attorneys and delay evictions, it would be far better to exercise the discretion provided under ULA to use such funding to expand and expedite the permanent direct rental assistance program,” Kaishchyan said.

What’s next

L.A.’s housing department has estimated that a fully funded right to counsel could cost the city $68 million per year. That’s no small sum considering that revenue from Measure ULA has so far trickled in at a fraction of the initial projections of around $1 billion per year.

The changes approved by the housing committee on Wednesday will now go back to the city attorney’s office, which has 30 days to come up with new language for the proposal. It’s not yet clear when the plan will come up for a final vote in the full city council.