Last May, the landlord of Barrington Plaza, on Los Angeles’ pricy Westside, affixed notices to the doors of 577 apartments, initiating the largest mass eviction from rent control housing in the city in at least four decades.
Following tenant protest, City Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the district, sought guidance from the office of Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto over whether the city had grounds to intervene in the evictions. Feldstein Soto’s office argued that the evictions were legal, suggesting there was little the city could do to prevent them from taking place. But some experts, including the general counsel for the Santa Monica Rent Control Board, say the city of Los Angeles is failing to use the powers it has to challenge the evictions and ought to do so, given the scope of the impact on tenants and the city’s affordable housing stock.
