Photo: Tenant unions and community organizations rallying in January outside the LA County Board of Supervisors building to demand a rent freeze and eviction moratorium.

Community organizations, legal advocates, labor and tenant unions, and the Keep LA Housed coalition are celebrating a win this week for renters. On Tuesday, the five-member LA County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 (with one member abstaining) to prevent landlords from evicting tenants who have lost income due to the January windstorms and wildfires for six months. 

In the January wildfires, thousands lost their homes and everything they owned overnight. A majority of renters in Los Angeles are already paying more than half of their income on rent, and now many of those who lost business or days of work in the wake of the fires are facing the threat of eviction. 

Wendy Lopez worked as a support professional for people with disabilities in Pacific Palisades until the fires uprooted her clients. Facing an eviction, she joined the LA Tenants Union for support and to push for renter protections.

“We are asking for something that will allow us to be able to breathe,” Lopez told the LA Public Press. 

Following the fires, tenant unions, housing organizations, labor unions, and members of the Keep LA Housed coalition quickly mobilized to push LA City Council and the LA County Board of Supervisors to protect more people from becoming unhoused while trying to recuperate and rebuild after the fires. The LA City Council failed to pass an eviction moratorium and rent freeze for impacted tenants. But advocates kept pushing at the county level, and this week, they won a measure of relief for thousands of renters.  

To be eligible for relief under the eviction moratorium ordinance, tenants must notify their landlord in writing that they can’t pay rent because they were economically impacted by the fires, having lost at least 10% of their income. The ordinance covers all of LA County (including incorporated and unincorporated areas) from February 1 to July 31, 2025, and applies to households making less than 150% of the area median income who have lived in their unit since before January 7. Impacted tenants will have until July 31, 2026 to repay any rental debt. 

In our last contract campaign, UTLA members fought for and won an agreement requiring LAUSD to commit for the first time to using their institutional position to address LA’s housing crisis. This fall, members voted overwhelmingly to keep pushing the district on housing and other common good demands as part of the Win Our Future platform. 

Last week, the UTLA member bargaining team introduced a proposal for a new article on housing supports that expands on our wins to strengthen support for students and families experiencing homelessness and housing instability.