Statement from Barbara Schultz, Director of Housing Justice at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) in response to Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto’s delays finalizing the City of Los Angeles’ contract with Stay Housed LA for eviction defense and tenant protections:

“Having negotiated in good faith over the last three months, LAFLA is shocked at the inaccurate and misleading claims contained in the City Attorney’s report.

Stay Housed LA has continued to provide services these last three months in the belief that the City Attorney would act in good faith to negotiate and execute the contracts that the City Council approved on March 10, 2026, after a lengthy procurement process. Instead, prolonged obstruction by the City Attorney has left critical services in jeopardy and placed extraordinary strain on the organizations that have continued serving tenants without executed contracts or payment.

For more than a year, the City Attorney has repeatedly interfered in the City’s implementation of eviction protection programs, but this newest tactic is truly over the line. We believe she is targeting LAFLA in retaliation for our work representing clients who are holding the city accountable on its housing and homelessness response. This year-long campaign against SHLA appears to reflect the City Attorney’s frustration about the fact that, whether representing tenants, unhoused people, or affordable housing developers, LAFLA wins in court.

Our partners at the LA Housing Department (LAHD) and our representatives in City Council have repeatedly selected LAFLA and SHLA to implement this program specifically because, by their own evaluations, we have consistently delivered exceptional services and provided the records to prove it. These facts have been ignored by the City Attorney, whose vindictive attempts to destroy the program that has helped tens of thousands of tenants over the last five years shows a shocking disregard for the wellbeing of Angelenos. 

Throughout this process, we have fulfilled the City Attorney’s many data requests, however onerous and unusual they became, in addition to our comprehensive monthly reporting to LAHD. Our reporting includes detailed invoices with staff time and salary information, program expenditures, and more than 25 data points for each case, including outcomes for cases where we represent tenants. What we cannot provide—and what no legal services organization can ethically provide—is confidential client information.

We stand by our work as good stewards of public funds that have helped reduce evictions and hope the City Council will see this transparent act of retaliation for what it is.”