Stay Housed LA Contract Approved
A step in the right direction.
Thanks to the tireless work of our Stay Housed LA partners, the LA City Council has voted to approve the Los Angeles Housing Department’s (LAHD) proposed contracts with the Stay Housed LA program, an important step that will help protect thousands of tenants from eviction and keep families in their homes.
This week’s vote concludes a nine-month competitive bidding process for the city’s eviction defense program and will ensure continuity of services.
This progress is the result of persistent efforts by tenants, organizers, legal advocates, and community partners committed to strengthening housing stability in Los Angeles.
While this decision moves us in the right direction, there is still significant work ahead to achieve true housing justice for all Angelenos.
“Stay Housed LA is an incredibly successful and cost-effective homelessness prevention program that needs to keep going,” said Shane Murphy Goldsmith, President and CEO of the Liberty Hill Foundation. “Combining legal services, rental assistance, and community education is the best way to make sure tenants have support when they need it, whether that’s simply making rent instead of losing their homes or fighting unfair charges and evictions.”
Since 2020, Liberty Hill has supported SHLA, a coalition of 29 community-based organizations and legal service providers focused on keeping people in their homes through outreach, education and eviction defense.
Over the past five years, Stay Housed LA, has supported more than 19,000 tenants with legal services, represented 6,150 tenants in court, and educated more than 2.3 million renters about their rights through workshops, phone calls, texts and in-person outreach. The program has also supported renters at the highest risk of eviction, prioritizing representation for tenants in communities that are most vulnerable to displacement due to eviction.
“Show me another city stopping homelessness before it starts, reaching two million renters and teaching thousands after thousands of them their rights,” said Pete White, executive director of LA CAN. “Show me another program that figured out how to stop homelessness with organizing, outreach and legal services the way Stay Housed LA does. I don’t know why you would hesitate to keep this work going. Today the people showed up to make sure this life-saving work continues.”
