Los Angeles City Council members promise to hear the concerns of both landlords and tenants, but in practice, only one side is truly heard and acted upon. The resulting policies not only harm landlords but tenants as well. Here’s why.

Last year, inspired by attending city council meetings that focused on increasing eviction protections and implementing rent freezes, I founded We House LA, a landlord advocacy group, in partnership with Jeromen McAlpin, a 40-year veteran of the real estate brokerage community. Since April, our ranks have grown to three dozen housing providers and property managers. Our members range from recent first-time landlords to those with 50 years of experience owning and managing apartment buildings. The majority are African American and own properties in South Los Angeles.

My focus has been to engage with politicians at the city, county and state levels to express the plight of our members and, by extension, all small landlords in the Greater Los Angeles area. Since the pandemic began, our operating expenses have skyrocketed due to rising utility and insurance costs, while our rental incomes have stagnated or shrunk thanks to draconian regulations on rent increases and evictions.

Our members’ properties are primarily located in Los Angeles County Supervisor District 2 (led by Holly Mitchell), Los Angeles Council Districts 8 and 10 (led by Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Councilwoman Heather Hutt, respectively), and Assemblyman Isaac Bryan’s 55th District. All these representatives are African American.

Since forming We House LA, Jerome and I have made numerous attempts to meet with Councilman Harris-Dawson, Councilwoman Hutt and Assemblyman Bryan. While we were fortunate to secure a group Zoom meeting with Supervisor Mitchell in October, our engagement with the other offices has not progressed beyond their legislative aides.

Although these initial conversations felt fruitful, our requests for follow up meetings with the council members and the assemblyman have not been granted. In a recent email, the legislative deputy for Councilman Harris-Dawson’s office informed us that no meeting would be granted, despite our formal requests submitted through the online portal and a written memo over a three-month period. We were advised to request a meeting with Councilwoman Nithya Raman’s office, even though none of our members live or own properties in her district. This lack ofaccess is concerning.

Organizational influence

Since the pandemic, the city’s housing policy has been heavily influenced by tenants’ rights groups. These actions are creating an environment that drives away private investment in new housing, disincentivizes investment in existing housing stock and contributes to the deterioration of the city’s aging housing supply. This, in turn, leads to less revenue from property transfer taxes.

Furthermore, these policies disincentivize housing providers from offering units to applicants with low credit scores or incomplete credit histories. Many landlords now prefer to keep units vacant for months rather than navigate Los Angeles’ onerous eviction process.

For a city scheduled to host the World Cup, the Super Bowl and the Olympics within the next two years, Los Angeles is in a financially precarious position due to its anti-business and anti-landlord climate. It is my hope that with the upcoming elections, the city’s tenant-friendly policies will shift to once again consider the rights of housing providers before Los Angeles’ housing crisis worsens, and its representatives listen and act according to the needs of all its constituents, not solely the one with the loudest voice.

David Evans is a principal with Investment Property Advisers and a commercial real estate broker. He is also a member of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles.