City Council to take up lawsuit by the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, an industry-backed landlord trade group, which sued the city to resume tenant evictions during the height of the pandemic
Lawsuit will be discussed in closed session at Wednesday’s City Council meeting (item 19 – 20-1018)
LOS ANGELES (August 18, 2020) AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the parent organization of Housing Is A Human Right (HHR) and Healthy Housing Foundation, its housing advocacy and housing provider divisions, is urging members of the Los Angeles City Council to stand up for tenants’ rights and against Big Real Estate in order to prevent tenant evictions during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The issue will come before the Council in a closed-door session calendared for its meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, August 19th.
In June, the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles (AAGLA), an industry-backed landlord trade group, sued the City of Los Angeles to overturn coronavirus anti-eviction protections for renters that the Council put in place earlier in the year. With the moratorium nearing its end, AAGLA sued in order to resume tenant evictions during the height of pandemic.
Last week, a federal judge ruled that the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Action (ACCE Action) and Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE) could intervene in the AAGLA v. City of LA case to defend hard-fought protections for tenants’ housing and health during the #Covid19 crisis.
The lawsuit will be discussed in closed session by the Council at its meeting on Wednesday, August 19th as item No. 19 (Council File: 20-1018):
“The City Council shall recess to Closed Session, pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(d)(1), to confer with its legal counsel relative to the case entitled Apartment Association of Los Angeles County, Incorporation, dba Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, v. City of Los Angeles; Eric Garcetti; and City Council of the City of Los Angeles, United States District Court Case No. 2:20-cv-05193-DDP-JEM.” (City Council Agenda)
“City Council, please do the right thing here and stand up firmly and vocally for tenant protections during the ongoing COVID crisis,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AHF. “Let’s keep families, the elderly and any and all who have been impacted by the economic maelstrom of coronavirus in their homes by upholding anti-eviction measures you wisely put in place before.”
In Greater Los Angeles, the growing threat of tenant displacement due to pandemic-related evictions is vast. According to the Los Angeles Times, “A recent report from the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy estimated that 365,000 renter households in the county are at high risk of evictions despite the rules aimed at preventing them in the city and across the region.”
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