On September 16, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 to approve $29.8 million in rent relief for tenants and to take exploratory steps toward an eviction moratorium. The decision occurs amidst a backdrop of economic hardships that have swept Los Angeles since escalated immigration raids began in early June.
Since the beginning of the summer, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) claim to have arrested more than 5,000 people in LA. Many detentions and raids have taken place in locations such as car washes, Home Depot, parking lots, and garment factories. The discriminatory nature of immigration enforcement caused an uproar in the general public of LA County. Protests swept the streets of the city and community organizers launched patrol networks, starting as early as 5 AM and continuing late into the night.
While multiple fronts have emerged in this past summer’s resistance against state terror, there is one that has yet to be addressed on a policy level: keeping immigrant tenants housed. The Los Angeles Tenants Union (LATU) has been organizing against displacement and advocating on behalf of tenants’ rights for a decade. While the struggle for tenant protections in LA has been prolonged, the shift in the economic state of the city since the onset of raids in June has leveled a new and extreme hardship onto Black and Brown renters across the county.
“A lot of our members do varying kinds of labor that put them at a direct risk of kidnappings like working in landscaping, construction, housecleaning and street vending,” said a LATU organizer, who requested anonymity. “After the raids started we saw a big uptick in members who were losing work or were afraid to leave their homes.”
The organizer said that the $30 million in rent relief is a good start but amounts to a superficial solution to a much deeper wound. LATU has been agitating for a rent moratorium since January, when the Palisades and Eaton Fires ravaged large parts of LA county, and had previously organized to secure an eviction moratorium as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the Board of Supervisors meeting last week, LATU was explicit about the need for greater protections for tenants.
“Our stance throughout has been that we support rent relief as a temporary fix but there are only so many people that these rent relief packages are going to reach,” the organizer said. “The best protection the Board can provide is a moratorium.”
Prior to the formal meeting on September 16, LATU members and organizers attended the Board of Supervisors cluster meeting on September 10 to present their demands and testimonies regarding eviction protections. The Board holds jurisdiction over 88 cities and wields power over the lives of over nine million residents. As LATU stated in a press release following the cluster meeting, the supervisors possess the ability to enact widespread, harm-reduction measures around tenants rights.
The threat against immigrant renters does not end with being kidnapped or detained by ICE, DHS, or CBP. As the deaths of Jaime Alanis, Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez and Ismael Ayala-Uribe show, the loss of life at the hands of immigration enforcement is a serious risk that renters face when they leave the house for work.
Another organizer for LATU, David (who requested to use only his first name), emphasized the importance of the situation many tenants find themselves in on a daily basis as they navigate this reality of escalated state violence.
“Our immigrant members are facing a choice between risking kidnapping or even being killed by ICE agents, or staying home and not making the rent,” said David. “That’s not a choice that we think tenants should have to face.”
In anticipation of the September 30 meeting where the moratorium will be further discussed, LATU is hopeful that the Board will commit to concrete steps towards tenant protections. David underscored the gravity of this moratorium exploration phase, as well as what it means for broader resistance to Trump’s crackdown on immigrants.
“We are not interested in any kind of performative gestures. We want the board to understand that the Trump administration is doing this purposefully,” he said. “Mass punishment of the poor is a desired outcome of the raids.”
In an effort to streamline the process of enacting a rent moratorium, LATU wrote and submitted a sample ordinance to the Board in July. As they stated in a press release following the cluster meeting, the Board is free to use that template in crafting a potential moratorium. The creation of a draft ordinance by a community organization also emphasizes the outsized role that mutual aid and grassroots organizing are playing in the resistance against state violence.
In the same press release, LATU highlighted that county and city governments in Los Angeles have been backed into corners by both the federal government’s hostility and their own lack of political will. While the power of the Board cannot be overstated with regard to tenants’ rights, the defense and protection of undocumented individuals and LA’s Black and Brown communities have been entirely led by community organizing efforts.
“Across LA, any of the raids that have been stopped or disrupted have been prevented by the people,” David said, pointing to the fact that the Board now faces the opportunity to keep community members housed and safe so that they may continue the fight against immigration crackdowns.
As community care has been the driving force behind all resistance to the Trump regime’s violence, so too is it in this specific fight for an eviction moratorium. In preparation for the September 30 meeting, David emphasized the importance of community engagement and pressure on the Board of Supervisors.
“Call your county supervisor,” he said. “Tell them you demand an eviction moratorium. This is an actionable form of resistance to Trump’s agenda.”
The September 30th meeting will be held at 9:30 a.m. at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration in Downtown LA. Public comment can be submitted virtually via this link. To find out which supervisor represents your neighborhood, click here.
Rosalind Jones (she/they) is a queer, Los Angeles-based writer and community organizer. She is a contributor for the online publication Knock LA, a founding member of the social justice organization Community Solidarity Project, and authors a Substack titled ‘Another World is Inevitable’. Rosalind holds a BA in Diplomacy and World Affairs from Occidental College and a certification in Creative Writing from the UCLA Extension.
