L.A. County Caps Rents in a Temporary Measure

"Rent hikes for some 50,000 older apartments in unincorporated Los Angeles County will be capped at 3 percent for six months, giving county leaders time to evaluate a panel’s recommendation that the county enact rent control permanently," reports Jeff Collins after a two-hour hearing by the County Board of Supervisors earlier this week.

"County staff now has two months to draft the final language of the proposed ordinance," according to Collins. In addition to "a temporary rent cap aimed at helping struggling tenants keep their homes in one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets," the ordinance "also will include 'just cause eviction' provisions, limiting when landlords can oust tenants in good standing."

For more background on the ordinance, Nina Agrawal wrote an in-depth examination of the ordinance just before the Board of Supervisors considered it, focusing on some of the individuals the rent cap is designed to protect.

Agrawal also describes the larger economic and demographic issues at work in the region's housing market: "According to the California Housing Partnership Corp., a nonprofit group that advocates for more affordable housing, L.A. County’s inflation-adjusted median rent increased 32% from 2000 to 2015, while median renter income decreased 3%. One in three renters in the county spends at least half their income on rent, according to research by UCLA."