by Corey Bennett
On March 31st LA’s eviction protections expired. These protections were implicated during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, tenants that were financially harmed because of COVID-19 were given protection due to them being unable to pay their rent. These protections were often called “eviction moratoriums,” though they didn’t stop landlords from evicting people, rather they offered tenants protection in court and defense if they were being evicted.
As these protections are being lifted, attorneys say that lawsuits regarding these people who are being evicted are rising very rapidly. Now they are preparing themselves for even greater numbers of people being evicted once the protections are lifted in the entire country. However, Kyle Nelson, a postdoctoral researcher at UCLA, says that even before these protections were lifted it can be noticed that evictions were on the rise last year. The filings for evictions during the pandemic rose to more than 3,000 a month.
Across California alone almost 600,000 people owe a staggering total of $2.1 billion in back rent. In Los Angeles and the entire county, at least 200,000 people incur more than half a billion dollars in unpaid rent.
Landlords though are pleased with these protections being lifted. To Daniel Yukelson, executive director of the Apartment Assn, it comes as a large sigh of relief, saying “Owners are just glad to have this burden off their backs,” he said. It’s been a very challenging three years — it’s been very tough to collect legally owed rent.” he would continue.
Even after all of that, there are still rules that protect tenants that are at risk. But these rules vary greatly depending on where you live, making these laws very difficult to understand and hard to enforce.
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