A Los Angeles City Council committee has rejected calls for an extension of the ban on rent increases that started during the COVID-19 pandemic and is instead offering a plan with a smaller increase.
The committee has approved a plan to allow apartment rents to increase by 4% in 2024 rather than 7%, with an additional 2% for owner and paid utilities. The plan would go into effect in February.
Property owner Mike Werner said the city’s so-called compromise isn’t much of a compromise at all. He said building costs like insurance have skyrocketed during the three and a half year span of the rent increase ban.
Nearly 75% of apartments in LA are under rent control and at least 45 years old, which owners say make them even more expensive to maintain.
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“The price of everything has gone through the ceiling,” Werner said. “I think there is a misconception that this is a very high-margin business and it is not.”
Renters and activists say owners enjoyed low inflation and 3% rent increases before the pandemic and can now afford to tighten the belt so that people can stay in their homes.
“There’s a lot of economic stuff we’re still dealing with — the price of gas is one that continues to go up,” renter Leonardo Vilchis-Zarate said. “I’m working two jobs trying to get by.”
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The six-month extension for the rent increase ban was proposed by council member Hugo Soto-Martinez. The 4% increase plan will now go before the City Council for a vote.
“Four percent is better than seven percent, but even four percent is going to hurt a lot of people in the city,” Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross said.
