SUBJECT: Support a Stronger LARSO to Keep Angelenos Housed
Dear Los Angeles City Councilmembers and staff,
I’m writing to urge you to adopt the Keep LA Housed Coalition’s recommendations to strengthen the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance.
While the current proposal from the Housing Department represents some progress compared to the existing system, it still falls short of providing renters with real stability at a time when housing costs across the city are climbing at alarming rates. Under LAHD’s plan, rents could still rise faster than inflation in many cases, pushing tenants further into financial precarity.
Ensuring that allowable rent increases are tied directly to inflation is essential. Every additional percentage point taken in rent is money that renters lose for food, healthcare, childcare, and transportation. The average monthly rent for a unit in a small RSO property is $2,357. To stay within the recommended 30% rent-to-income standard, a tenant would need to earn around $94,000 a year. That figure already puts RSO housing well beyond reach for most working families. Rent in stabilized housing is already unaffordable — it cannot continue to grow unchecked.
Fixing and strengthening LARSO won’t solve LA’s housing affordability crisis on its own, but it is a meaningful and necessary step that the City Council can take right now to protect tenants and keep people housed.
