HOMELESSNESS & AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Our Mission:

Los Angeles is a city of opportunity, but the lack of affordable housing and the presence of homelessness is a crisis. We believe everyone deserves a safe, stable place to call home. We are committed to finding solutions that address the root causes of homelessness and provide permanent housing options.

Our Approach:

Confronting homelessness is a top priority for our office. We work collaboratively with Mayor Bass's office, LAHSA, and non-profit partners. Our approach prioritizes evidence-based solutions, street outreach, and a full spectrum of support services, including mental health care and job training. Since 2023, we've been able to decrease homelessness in CD10 by 13%.

Despite these great strides, the homeless population is still an ongoing battle. Our office refuses to settle with the fact that some of our fellow Angelenos will be consigned to a life on the street. We are committed to building common cause and collective action to put in place a legislative, administrative, and budgetary framework that provides for a Right to Housing, so that everyone experiencing homelessness can get indoors with resolve and urgency. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has said, “God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty.”

Find Help Now: Resources for Housing and Stability

Los Angeles Housing Services Authority provides unhoused individuals and families with the resources they need to achieve independent, stable, and secure housing. Services available include temporary housing, shelter, restrooms, showers, meals, transportation, alcohol/drug counseling, mental health counseling, job training, and case management. Additional shelter beds are available during the winter months of December through March.
Stay Housed L.A. is a partnership between Los Angeles County, the City of Los Angeles, and local community and legal service providers. The program provides free legal assistance to tenants facing wrongful eviction. Income eligible tenants receive the legal help they need to stay in their homes. For more information, visit: https://www.stayhousedla.org/.

Landlord Tenant Legal Services

Agencies listed below provide a variety of assistance on landlord/tenant issues, rent stabilizations, code enforcement, housing matters, and evictions.

Rent Stabilization, Habitability, and Code Enforcement:

Coalition for Economic Survival (CES) - The Coalition for Economic Survival is a multiracial, multicultural grassroots community-based organization that has been dedicated to organizing low and moderate income people to win economic and social justice throughout the Greater Los Angeles area since 1973.
Housing Rights Center (HRC) - The Housing Rights Center (HRC) is the nation’s largest non-profit civil rights organization dedicated to securing and promoting fair housing.
Inquilinos Unidos/ United Tenants - Inquilinos Unidos, otherwise known as United Tenants, empowers low-income Los Angeles tenants through community organizing, education, and advocacy.
Los Angeles County Consumer & Business Affairs - The County of Los Angeles Department of Consumer and Business Affairs has a long history of working to ensure a fair marketplace for Los Angeles County residents.
Mental Health Advocacy Services - Mental Health Advocacy Services, Inc. (MHAS) is a private, non-profit organization established in 1977 to provide free legal services to people with mental health disabilities.
Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles - Founded in 1965 as part of the nation’s War on Poverty, NLSLA is now one of the largest and most prominent public interest law offices in California.
Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE) - Since 1996, SAJE has been a force of economic justice in Los Angeles focused on tenant rights, healthy housing, and equitable development.

Legal and Eviction Services:

Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AJSOCAL) - Asian American Advancing Justice is a leading civil rights advocate for the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. This organization works to combat discrimination, offer free legal services and workshops in Southern California, and drive policy change from local to national levels.
Bet Tzedek Legal Services - Bet Tzedek provides person-centered legal services that integrate with social support services, educate community members with the powerful knowledge of their legal rights, and uses their collective voice to reform systems.
Disability Rights California (DRC) - Disability Rights California (DRC) is the agency designated under federal law to protect and advocate for the rights of Californians with disabilities.
Inner City Law Center - Inner City Law Center fights for housing and justice for low-income tenants, working-poor families, immigrants, people who are disabled or living with HIV/AIDS, and homeless veterans.
Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) - Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles is a nonprofit law firm that protects and advances the rights of the most underserved, leveling the playing field and ensuring that everyone can have access to the justice system.
Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice (LACLJ) - LACLJ secures justice for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and empowers them to create their own futures.
Mental Health Advocacy Services - The mission of Mental Health Advocacy Services (MHAS) is to protect and advance the legal rights of low-income adults and children with mental health disabilities and empower them to assert those rights in order to maximize their autonomy, achieve equity, and secure the resources they need to thrive.

Renters Relief Registry Expansion

Work on the City’s Rent Registry Ordinance was launched on January 17, 2017, requiring landlords to provide the rent amount and tenancy information for every rental unit subject to the City’s RSO. The Rent Registry Online Portal can be found here: https://housingbill.lacity.org/RentRegistry.

The Registry provides and effective means to keep tenants informed about important information regarding programs or other opportunities and can be used to outreach to tenants as such opportunities or needs arise.

Affirmative Defense

Tenants facing eviction have an affirmative defense if the proposed eviction is for non-payment of rent and the tenant’s ability to pay rent results from circumstances related to the COVID-19 emergency. Tenants or their attorney’s can raise the existence of the moratorium as a defense in an Unlawful Detainer action. Tenants and their attorneys may argue that they are an Affected Tenant by providing documentation to the Landlord that they have lost substantial income.

LAHD Administrative Process

The Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) will intake tenant complaints and inform both landlords and tenant complaints and inform both landlords and tenants of the requirements of the renter protections. LAHD will conduct an investigation similar to the existing process for enforcement of tenant protections under the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO).

Eviction complaints can be filled:

Electronically: https://housing2.lacity.org/file-a-complaint
By Phone: (866) 557-7368

Complaints will be assigned to a Housing Investigator who will investigate the tenant’s claim and advise the landlord and tenant of their findings.

Housing Programs & Resources

Los Angeles County Housing Resource Center - Since 2007, this community resource has helped people list and locate housing in the County of Los Angeles, including affordable, special needs, emergency housing and more. Listing and searches are free.
City of Los Angeles Affordable and Accessible Housing Registry - Search for accessible and affordable housing in the City of Los Angeles.
Accessible Housing Program - The Accessible housing Program (AcHP) ensures that people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to rent, enjoy, and use affordable rental housing funded by the City of Los Angeles or the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles.
Handyworker Program - The Handyworker Program provides free minor repairs for low income seniors and persons with disabilities to address basic health, safety, security, and accessibility needs to enable them to age at home.
Housing Opportunities for People with HIV/AIDS (HOPWA) - Housing opportunities are available for people with HIV/AIDS. HOPWA is a federally-funded program that provides assistance with housing and supporting services for low-income individuals living with HIV/AIDS and their families.