L.A.'s eviction defense program up in the air amid battle with city attorney
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The Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles routinely sues the city — and wins.In the last two months, the nonprofit has notched victories in three lawsuits over the city’s handling of the homelessness crisis.
Legal Aid also defends tenants at risk of eviction as part of the city and Los Angeles County’s Stay Housed L.A.program.
Last Tuesday, the City Council was set to vote on a $177-million contract for Legal Aid to continue representing tenants for the next three years, with other groups providing related services.But the night before the vote, City Atty.Hydee Feldstein Soto sent a confidential memo to council offices recommending that council members “reconsider the award of such a large contract to a frequent litigant against the city,” according to a portion of the memo obtained by The Times.
On the day of the scheduled vote, the council delayed it for a week, until Tuesday.“[Legal Aid’s] mission includes improving the lives of our client communities through systemic change, which sometimes means filing litigation against government entities engaging in illegal conduct,” Barbara Schultz, director of housing justice for Legal Aid, said in an interview.
Schultz said that Legal Aid’s litigation and eviction work “are entirely separate.” California The City Council ran afoul of the Ralph M.Brown Act by approving a plan for removing 9,800 homeless encampments during a closed-door meeting, according to a new ruling.Through a spokesperson, Feldstein Soto declined to comment.
She is running for reelection this year.The contract, which would last for three years, would award nearly $107 million to Legal Aid for eviction defense and prevention, $42 million to the Southern California Housing Rights Center for short-term emergency rental assistance, nearly $22 million to Liberty Hill Foundation for tenant outreach and close to $7 million to Strategic Actions for ...