Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Rent Stabilization topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Hundreds of callers urge council to cap rent at 3% and agendize LARSO during marathon public comment
Summary
Dozens of residents and tenant advocates used an hour-plus of public comment at the Los Angeles City Council to press for an updated rent-stabilization formula that would cap increases at 3%, eliminate rent banking and utility/occupant "bumps," and to demand council action on a proposed LARSO update.
Hundreds of Angelenos and dozens of tenant advocates pressed the Los Angeles City Council during more than an hour of public comment to adopt a revised rent stabilization formula they call LARSO, including a hard cap of 3% on allowable rent increases and the elimination of so-called "bump" provisions for utilities and additional occupants.
Speakers representing tenant groups and neighborhood organizations, including members of ACE and Trust South LA, told the council that renters are struggling with rising housing costs, recent wildfires and immigration enforcement actions that have reduced household incomes. Many called the current allowable increases unaffordable and urged council members to place the LARSO proposal on a meeting agenda for formal consideration.
Jessica Melendez of Trust South LA said the city's recent disasters and enforcement actions have pushed low-income workers closer to eviction and homelessness. "Without fair renter laws, LA will continue to see rising homelessness, overcrowding, and economic strain on working and middle class families," Melendez said during her one-minute public comment.
Multiple speakers urged a specific package of changes: index rent increases to 60% of the Consumer Price Index across all items, set a maximum 3% annual cap with no floor, prohibit rent-banking, and remove extra increases for utilities and additional occupants. Sofia Mendoza, identified as a member of ACE, said "Indexing RSO increases to 60% CPI and creating a 3% hard cap on rent increases is essential to prevent thousands more people being pushed onto the streets of this city."
Speakers asked South Los Angeles councilmembers in particular to support agendizing the measure and repeatedly told the council they had collected petitions and held door-knocks to demonstrate community backing. One speaker said his group submitted more than 300 signed petitions asking for a 3% cap.
Council did not take a vote on the proposed LARSO changes during the meeting. Several councilmembers did make other procedural votes and continued some agenda items to later dates, but speakers and tenant advocates said they left seeking a clear commitment to schedule a hearing on an updated rent-stabilization ordinance.
Public comment lasted roughly 65 minutes before the council moved on to its regular agenda business; the clerk announced the session took 65 minutes of public testimony in the morning meeting. Speakers represented multiple neighborhoods and repeatedly connected rent affordability to the recent wave of federal immigration enforcement actions and to wildfire impacts.
Advocates asked the council to act quickly. "It is very urgent that we get the rent cap to 3%," one tenant speaker told the council. The meeting record does not show a council vote on the LARSO package at this session.
