In a significant step toward preventing homelessness and ensuring housing stability, the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA) launched its Right to Counsel Program, expanding Stay Housed LA to provide legal representation for eligible tenants facing eviction in unincorporated LA County. The program’s launch is especially timely as the region confronts widespread displacement and rent gouging in the aftermath of devastating wildfires that destroyed 10,000 homes and displaced 40,000 residents.
Each year, approximately 46,000 residents in LA County receive eviction notices, a number expected to surge as the recent wildfires create growing pressure on the rental market. While 90% of landlords have legal representation in eviction court, only 10% of tenants have access to attorneys. Through this critical expansion of the County’s Stay Housed LA program, a broader effort to address long-standing housing challenges, eligible tenants will now have access to free legal representation when facing unlawful detainer actions, including in cases of price gouging where rents have been illegally raised beyond the 10% emergency cap.
The program will offer emergency legal assistance for residents displaced by recent wildfires, enforcement of price gouging protections as rents spike “hundreds or thousands of dollars a month,” highlighting the rights of tenants and obligations of landlords during the ongoing disaster. It will also include resources for seniors and vulnerable residents facing housing instability.
