LA Evictions Coming With Looming COVID-19 Back Rent Due

Los Angeles officials said on Monday that a rise in homelessness in the city is expected in August, with the looming August 1st deadline for tenants to pay all back rent owed from March 2020 through September 2021. Citywide eviction protections were in place against evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, but are coming due.

The back rent issue has been one of the most contentious in the city for years. Since 2020, landlords have fought hard against the city eviction moratorium, saying that it put an undue burden on them and that they have been financially struggling to pay mortgages and other expenses due to no money coming in from renters who can’t be removed. Housing groups, aided by statistics showing that homelessness in LA would significantly jump up as a result, including state statistics showing that 101,000 households had rent relief funding during the pandemic in LA alone, prevailed in fighting off attempts in ending the moratorium during the last few years, including in court.

The City Council kept extending the moratorium every several months. However, severely declining COVID-19 rates in LA, as well as President Joe Biden declaring the pandemic over in September 2022, brought forth a new effort to finally pin down an end date for the eviction moratorium. At the same time, previous housing committee meetings that fought tooth and nail finally started reaching understandings on a sunset date. Finally, City Council agreed to a moratorium end date of January 31, 2023, ending the nearly three year long moratorium.

Despite the end earlier this year, landlord groups still rallied to get all rent owed during the pandemic. As a hard moratorium was in place from March 2020 to September 2021, meaning that no one could be evicted if they didn’t pay during this time or if they didn’t pay back immediately in the next few years. The city did eventually agree to an August 1st date for all back rent to be paid or face eviction.

With the August 1st date rapidly approaching, many officials in the city worry that Los Angeles could face an even worse homeless crisis.

Along with the SAG-AFTRA/WGA Hollywood strikes costing many jobs during this time, homelessness is expected to rise dramatically, as many renters affected by the back pay date have not paid and many in and around the industry are facing major financial problems. LA Mayor Karen Bass has said that the city will do all they can to help stem the incoming wave of evictions as much as possible.

“We will only be able to solve our city’s homelessness crisis if we work to prevent people from falling into homelessness in the first place,” said Los Angeles Mayor Bass this week. “On August 1, certain COVID-19 rental protections will expire and I have worked with our partners on the City Council as well as the Los Angeles Housing Department to prepare resources for those who maybe  impacted. The city will do all it can to prevent a wave of evictions.”

Councilwoman Nithya Raman added that “The city will utilize all of its tools, including the package of renter protections the council put in place earlier this year, plus Measure ULA dollars and an eviction defense program to prevent Angelenos from becoming homeless due to back rent. My hope is that the impending August 1 rent debt repayment deadline actually push us to reshape and transform our current system into one that proactively supports vulnerable tenants to stay housed, not just at this moment but over the long term.”

Homelessness and eviction

While the city’s Housing and Homelessness Committee will vote on funding to help alleviate any upcoming evictions, including $18.4 million for eligible households to apply for up to six months of any owed back rent and millions more for legal services and community groups, others in the city feel that the time to pay back rent is long overdue.

“Some of us have had tenants who didn’t pay a dime between March 2020 and January of this year,” LA landlord Wilmer Lee told the Globe. “Others have years worth. Many, like me, have blocks of months that we’re still owed. In total for me, its five figures, as I have several properties. And, contrary to popular belief, rent doesn’t go all into my back pocket. There is maintenance, odd utilities, landscaping, city taxes, property taxes, insurance, and a lot more. If we aren’t making that through rent, that is out of pocket right there, or we cut back on things for the property.”

“Landlords have a certain reputation, but in the end, it is a business of sorts. A lot of smaller landlords have been hurt the most, and many have this as income, or in many cases, this is their retirement. The city held this off way too much, and now they’re trying to stop all the negative effects of their own doing. COVID was a hard time, but instead of trying to work with tenants, LA just gave the no pay option, and many took it. Now, with it due, they are worried about homelessness coming about because of this. They didn’t look at more sensible options, and now the price is being paid.”

“The sad thing is, if the city just let us work with renters and take a lower amount some months, then a higher amount some months when things improved, like many of us had planned before the city pulled this stunt, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are now. The city had a hotel program in place for homeless people, so we could have worked with them to transition people out who couldn’t pay. There were good ways to do this. But nope. What they thought was the right thing is now destroying them.”

Another wave of homelessness is expected in February 2024, when the back rent for between October 2021 and January 2023 is due to landlords.