The Los Angeles County eviction moratorium – that prohibits any action by a landlord to remove a covered tenant for nonpayment of rent – was updated by vote Tuesday, extending eviction protections for many pandemic-impacted tenants through the end of 2022.

Despite strong opposition by Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 in a decision that would extend the existing eviction moratorium– a move that could possibly cause financial harm for landlords, according to Barger. 

I’m not on board w/ @LACountyBOS extending emergency protections for rent nonpayment yet again. Businesses are open, work is available & we’re learning to live w/ COVID19. Continuing this eviction moratorium is bad policy & unfair to landlords. My “NO” vote stands. #BadPolicy pic.twitter.com/sloUDv1j6n

— Supervisor Kathryn Barger (@kathrynbarger) January 26, 2022

“Businesses are open, work is available and we’re learning to live with COVID-19,” Barger said during the vote on Tuesday. “Continuing this eviction moratorium is bad policy and unfair to landlords.”

With businesses open and the county preparing to host the Super Bowl, Barger argued that vaccination rates continue to grow, combined with people who have developed natural immunity, while the eviction moratorium remains a “gross expansion of renter protection policy with no end in sight.”

“Landlords are saying enough is enough,” Barger said. 

While agreeing that the peak of coronavirus cases fueled by the omicron variant is waning, Supervisor Sheila Kuehl authored the extended COVID-19 Tenant Protections Resolution, insisting that thousands of residents continue to face pandemic-impacted financial burdens. 

“The 250,000 people who became infected in the last seven days most likely do not have sick leave,” Kuehl said prior to the vote. “And so when they have to quarantine in a home or place that they count on to be able to sleep and try to get well, they are not earning money, because they’re not being paid for being sick. This is happening to hundreds of thousands of our residents every week.”

Barger, however, maintained that landlords have suffered the same financial harm, with tenants oftentimes taking advantage of the moratorium to avoid paying rent.

Despite her concerns, the final vote settled on the extension of the current eviction moratorium through May 31, 2022 and eviction protections are set to be reinstated if related to pandemic-hardship on April 1, 2022, according to the motion. 

The motion was loudly opposed by landlords and rental associations across L.A. County.

“Although we disagree with the outcome of Tuesday’s Board vote, we take pride over the flood of calls, emails, and personal outreaches our realtors and consumers generated over the weekend,” read a statement from the California Association of Realtors. “Nearly 4,000 realtors and nearly 400 consumers mobilized in a matter of days to voice their opposition to the endless eviction moratorium that is hurting housing providers across the County.”

Despite their efforts, the motion stands for Phase II of the eviction moratorium to be scheduled between June 1 and Dec. 31, 2022, phasing out tenant protections including the removal of a purchase date requirement for owner move-ins and resumed evictions for denying landlord entry, according to the motion.

The eviction moratorium is scheduled to be fully phased out by Jan. 1, 2023. 

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