The new map shows how many Tenant Bill of Rights policies have been enacted in LA County, and whether a strong or weak version was adopted.

April 24, 2024

By Kyle Nelson, Senior Policy and Research Analyst, Anti-Eviction

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, SAJE and other housing rights advocates and attorneys formed a coalition, Keep LA Housed (KLAH), to protect vulnerable renters from eviction. While fighting for strong pandemic-era safeguards, KLAH began crafting a Tenant Bill of Rights (TBOR) to ensure we would not return to the pre-pandemic status quo–one in which tens of thousands of Angelenos were evicted every year because they lacked adequate legal protections.

KLAH has since won a slate of TBOR policies for L.A. City and unincorporated L.A. County. They have also supported policy development alongside local governments in cities from Burbank to Long Beach. A new interactive map created in collaboration with the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project visualizes these achievements.

As the map demonstrates, the coalition has amassed an impressive record of policy development and implementation over its first four years. In L.A. City, KLAH has won:

• Universal just-cause for eviction cases
• A monetary threshold for nonpayment of rent-based evictions, which must exceed one month of fair market rent as defined by HUD
• Relocation assistance for non-rent stabilized tenants who are displaced by rent increases over 10%
• A lower post-rent freeze cap on rent increases allowed under the City’s RSO, with continuing advocacy to permanently lower the cap 
• Permanent “grandfathering” in of pets adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic

In L.A. County, KLAH has won:

• A monetary threshold for nonpayment of rent-based evictions, which must exceed one month of fair market rent as defined by HUD
• A temporary cap on rent increases allowed under the County’s RSO, with continuing advocacy to permanently lower the cap.

The TBOR map shows how far we’ve come as a movement and how far we still have to go in realizing a more just housing future; KLAH is currently pushing each of the 88 cities in L.A. County to adopt the full slate of TBOR policies. The map’s creators hope it will be a useful tool for policy advocacy, and that it will help renters, advocates, journalists, and lawyers understand the landscape of tenant rights throughout the county. Ultimately, the goal is to equip all Los Angeles-area renters with the same set of rights.