Housing Justice in Action
Last month, our Housing Justice team joined Stay Housed L.A. community partners LiBRE, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice (EYCEJ) and the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, for another great Stay Housed L.A. Tenant Rights event at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Long Beach.
With more than 50 community members in attendance, Stay Housed L.A. provided “Know Your Rights” workshops and a legal advice clinic for local tenants threatened with evictions. Attendees also participated in a community resource fair with information booths hosted by local organizations Khmer Girls in Action, CLUE, LAANE as well as a “free store” by DSA-Long Beach.
The event is part of a Stay Housed L.A. workshop series aimed at raising public awareness about tenant rights, providing outreach and education, and offering legal service to tenants in LA County. To date, our Stay Housed L.A. community partners have outreached to more than 1.2 million tenants and provided legal services to nearly 60,000 people county-wide—making the Stay Housed L.A. program the largest eviction defense and prevention program in the country.
Pandemic-era tenant protections will expire throughout LA County on March 31st, particularly affecting communities in small cities. Liberty Hill is working with Stay Housed L.A. community partners to explore new ways in which to leverage future events to help local organizers build working relationships with local elected officials and demonstrate the need for better tenant protections in their cities.
In the City of Los Angeles, the recent LA City Council “yes” vote to consider implementation of a codified “Right to Counsel” ordinance for tenants in eviction court without a lawyer has housing justice organizers hopeful. The new ordinance would create a more just playing field for tenants in court and serves as an example of what is possible in cities throughout Los Angeles County.
As housing justice organizers continue to build tenant power s throughout the county, Liberty Hill and our Stay Housed L.A. partners are committed to providing tenants with the support needed to exercise their rights to remain safely in their homes.
Learn more about the work of our Stay Housed L.A. community partners and their fight to promote fair housing for all.
