LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 01: A for rent sign is posted in front of an apartment building on February 1, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. According to the Consumer Price Index, rental prices in Southern California have spiked 4.7 percent in 2016 compared to 3.9 percent in 2015. The increase is the fastest since 2007. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
An outreach program offering advice and resources to renters in Los Angeles' 11th Council District who can't pay their rent due to economic hardship from the COVID-19 pandemic has begun, Councilman Mike Bonin announced Friday.
The Know Your Rights initiative began Thursday with a telephone town hall discussion focused on helping renters, Bonin said.
Nearly 300 people from Bonin's district participated in the discussion to have questions answered about how to keep their leases during the pandemic, an aide said.
People who joined in the call included Larry Gross from the Coalition for Economic Survival, Elena Popp of the Eviction Defense Network as well as Anna Ortega and Marcella DeShurley from the Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department.
Staff members in the last week emailed, texted and called more than 22,000 people in the district that stretches from Pacific Palisades and Brentwood to Westchester to ask if they need help and to offer to answer any questions or connect them with resources, an aide said.
Information on the Know Your Rights initiative and a video of the Thursday town hall discussion are posted on the district's website.
