L.A.'s housing policies: everyone loses

San Jose’s government interference in housing may result in unfavorable consequences for all parties involved, as suggested by recent developments in Los Angeles. Raul Riesgo, a commentator for the Golden Globe explores the issue.

At the start of the pandemic, California instituted a temporary ban on evictions, which has been a lifeline to renters but has also put landlords across the state in a nearly untenable position of still being required to pay the taxes and insurance on properties, without collecting monthly rent payments from all of their tenants.

But the Judicial Council is right: this is an issue that should be handled by the state legislature. Given that there is still time in California’s legislative session to pass a bill on this issue, there is no excuse for them not to get it done if this is a priority for Democrats in the state—who have complete control of the levers of power.

In addition, there have been multiple lawsuits filed challenging the eviction moratorium, which will add additional legal fees on to the city and state government, which are already strapped for cash. The Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles recently sued the city of LA, arguing their rent deferment program “unconstitutionally targets landlords.

Recently, a crowd of protestors gathered outside Mayor Eric Garcetti’s house seeking answers on what his plan is to deal with the impending rent crisis. Estimates point to 200,000 to 600,000 Los Angeles residents being evicted when the moratorium is lifted.

To apply another band-aid to this issue, LA has instituted a program that will pay $103 million in rental assistance to 50,000 randomly selected families who applied for the program, even though over 100,000 people have already applied. This shows that this policy is woefully insufficient to address renters’ concerns.

Read the whole thing here.

Raul Riesgo is a commentator who has been featured on Spanish language news outlets Univision, Telemundo and Mundo Fox News discussing both political and Latino community issues.

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