Los Angeles County rent control ordinance approved by Board of Supervisors

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved a rent-control ordinance that would also prohibit evictions without cause.

The board's 5-0 vote applies to the roughly 100,000 renters who live in the county's unincorporated areas.

Some officials insist that even more can be done.

"Three million out of the 10 million L.A. county residents are living with no rent protection at all," Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said at a rally before the vote. "If I'm paying $1,700 a month and my landlord says, 'Next month, your rent goes up to $3,500,' there's nothing I can do."

Supervisor Hilda Solis said the supervisors' vote would be part of a larger movement.

"Whatever the county does, when we sneeze, sometimes it creates a cold," she told demonstrators. "Sometimes it creates a revolution."

Among the ordinance's supporters are the mayors of Culver City and Inglewood. Both cities have passed rent control legislation and are calling on about 75 other cities to do the same.

Dozens of people, mostly supporters of the ordinance, spoke to the board before the vote. Supporters said the main reason for rent control was to combat the region's growing homelessness crisis. Many people on the street, they said, were forced out of their homes by financial causes.

"We all in California need more rent control. We need more protection," said Gloria Cortez of Pomona.

But landlords and other opponents said it was a struggle to provide housing without being able to raise rents and they said a better solution to homelessness is to build more affordable housing.

"These policies ignore the need to build more housing and place the burden on landlords who already struggle to continue operating because of high costs and regulatory burdens," said Armando Flores with the Valley Industry and Commerce Association.