Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles is a proud member of Stay Housed LA, a partnership with the County of Los Angeles working to keep families in their homes by preventing eviction. Right now, several million tenants in the State of California, including 495,000 LA County households and 758,000 LA County children, are at risk of eviction. While local governments have passed new policies to protect renters, many tenants simply don’t know they have rights and are not prepared to defend themselves in court. Research shows that when tenants do end up in court, 90% of those facing eviction do not have representation from an attorney, while 90% of landlords do. This power imbalance is real: Unrepresented tenants almost always lose, forcing many into homelessness and fueling LA’s housing affordability crisis.
Stay Housed LA corrects this power imbalance. Alongside more than a dozen legal services providers and tenant-led community organizations, we provide tenants with the support needed to exercise their rights so that they can remain safely in their homes. We directly engage hundreds of thousands of tenants by phone and text, invite them to learn at virtual workshops, and provide one-on-one legal counseling tailored to their needs. For families trying to navigate the legal system, we provide free eviction representation and defense, increasing their chances of avoiding homelessness by more 70%.
LAFLA is excited to lead this program, advocate for tenants throughout the county, and expand our work in the coming years.
For more information on how you can get help, visit StayHousedLA.org or call (888) 694-0040.
