The update also directs exploration of additional resources for small landlords facing maintenance issues
Mayor Karen Bass signed an update to the city’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance on Dec. 23, the first revision in nearly 40 years, imposing new limits on rent increases for units covered by the measure.
The ordinance, approved by the City Council earlier in December and affecting about 74% of rental units in Los Angeles, caps annual rent hikes between 1% and 4%. It also prohibits increases when tenants add family members such as children or elderly relatives under their care and eliminates certain utility-related surcharges.
Bass signed the measure at an event with Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez and representatives from Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, a tenant advocacy group.
“No parent should have to choose between buying groceries or paying the rent, or live in fear of eviction because they have welcomed a child into their family,” Bass said in a statement.
Soto-Martínez called affordable rent a “basic necessity” and said the changes would help prevent residents from being priced out.
The update also directs exploration of additional resources for small landlords facing maintenance issues.
The changes come amid ongoing efforts to address housing costs, which Bass has linked to homelessness. On her first day in office, she declared a local emergency on homelessness to expedite housing production.
