L.a.'s Eviction Defense Program Up In The Air Amid Battle With City Attorney

The Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles routinely sues nan metropolis — and wins.

In nan past 2 months, nan nonprofit has notched victories successful 3 lawsuits complete nan city’s handling of nan homelessness crisis.

Legal Aid besides defends tenants astatine consequence of eviction arsenic portion of nan metropolis and Los Angeles County’s Stay Housed L.A. program.

Last Tuesday, nan City Council was group to ballot connected a $177-million contract for Legal Aid to proceed representing tenants for nan adjacent 3 years, pinch different groups providing related services.

But nan nighttime earlier nan vote, City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto sent a confidential memo to assembly offices recommending that assembly members “reconsider nan grant of specified a ample statement to a predominant litigant against nan city,” according to a information of nan memo obtained by The Times.

On nan time of nan scheduled vote, nan assembly delayed it for a week, until Tuesday.

“[Legal Aid’s] ngo includes improving nan lives of our customer communities done systemic change, which sometimes intends filing litigation against authorities entities engaging successful forbidden conduct,” Barbara Schultz, head of lodging justness for Legal Aid, said successful an interview.

Schultz said that Legal Aid’s litigation and eviction activity “are wholly separate.”

Through a spokesperson, Feldstein Soto declined to comment. She is moving for reelection this year.

The contract, which would past for 3 years, would grant astir $107 cardinal to Legal Aid for eviction defense and prevention, $42 cardinal to nan Southern California Housing Rights Center for short-term emergency rental assistance, astir $22 cardinal to Liberty Hill Foundation for tenant outreach and adjacent to $7 cardinal to Strategic Actions for a Just Economy to protect tenants from harassment.

The conflict complete nan statement has superior implications for Los Angeles tenants astatine consequence of eviction, Schultz said.

Legal Aid, which has participated successful nan programme since its inception successful 2021, will person to extremity accepting caller clients if nan statement does not walk connected Tuesday. Each month, astir 160 tenants will beryllium without ineligible practice and astir 575 much won’t get proposal that could thief them debar eviction proceedings, Schultz said.

Schultz said that Legal Aid subcontracts immoderate of nan ineligible activity successful nan programme to groups specified arsenic Bet Tzedek and Inner City Law Center.

“We get 600 to 800 eviction filings each period successful our territory alone. If assembly doesn’t act, those families will person nary thief from nan city,” City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez said successful a statement.

The Stay Housed L.A. programme has opened astir 26,000 cases overall, providing afloat practice for 6,150 cases and moving connected astir 20,000 “limited scope” cases, according to information from Legal Aid. The original contract, which is group to lapse astatine nan extremity of nan month, was for astir $90 million.

Measure ULA, nan “mansion tax” passed by metropolis voters successful 2022, includes backing for nan program.

Last June, Feldstein Soto tried to block nan City Council from extending nan statement without a competitory bidding process, a halfway tenet she has preached arsenic nan city’s elected ineligible counsel.

At nan time, immoderate City Council members grumbled, but still, they opened nan statement to bidders.

Months later, nan metropolis Housing Department awarded nan statement to Legal Aid and nan different organizations earlier sending it to nan City Council for approval.

“Our knowing of nan city’s contracting process is that it is trying to get nan champion services it tin astatine nan champion worth and not utilizing nan process to power nan governmental aliases ineligible activities of nonprofit defense organizations,” Elizabeth Hamilton, lawman head of Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, which has besides revenge lawsuits against nan city, said successful a statement.

Feldstein Soto’s confidential memo cited different imaginable issues pinch nan contract, calling for an audit of Stay Housed L.A. and asserting that a confidentiality clause successful nan original statement mightiness break authorities nationalist records laws.

Recently, Legal Aid has scored respective victories against nan city.

In January, a judge ruled that nan city violated nan state’s unfastened gathering law erstwhile assembly members made a scheme down closed doors to expanse 9,800 bum encampments. Legal Aid represented nan plaintiffs successful that case.

In February, pinch Legal Aid besides serving arsenic plaintiffs’ counsel, a judge ruled that nan metropolis lacked nan ineligible authority to transportation retired a authorities rule allowing nan dismantling of abandoned aliases inoperable RVs worthy up to $4,000.

That aforesaid month, Legal Aid scored different triumph erstwhile a national judge recovered that nan metropolis violated bum people’s law rights by seizing and destroying their spot during encampment cleanups.