City attorney has left $177M tenant aid contract unsigned for months. LA leaders want to know why<\/p>\n
Nearly three months ago, the Los Angeles City Council voted to fund homelessness prevention programs to the tune of $177 million. Despite approval by Mayor Karen Bass, the funding still has not been cleared by City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto. Now, city leaders want answers about the delay.<\/p>\n
Nearly three months ago, the Los Angeles City Council voted to fund<\/a> homelessness prevention programs to the tune of $177 million. Despite approval by Mayor Karen Bass, the funding still has not been cleared by City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto.<\/p>\n Now, city leaders want answers about the delay.<\/p>\n A motion<\/a> introduced earlier this week by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado said the \u201ccontracts remain unexecuted without explanation.\u201d The motion goes on to say the setback has caused \u201c$17 million … in emergency rental assistance to sit unused\u201d and has put \u201cservices for those at risk of homelessness in jeopardy.\u201d<\/p>\n If passed by the council\u2019s Housing and Homelessness Committee and later approved by the full council, Jurado\u2019s motion would call on Feldstein Soto to report back to the council within 30 days about the reasons for the delay.<\/p>\n Learn the ins and outs behind L.A.’s housing crisis.<\/p>\n Sign up for Building Your Block, a seven-issue newsletter course from LAist that explains the obstacles around housing development in L.A. and what you can do to make things better.<\/p>\n Representatives with the City Attorney\u2019s Office did not respond to LAist\u2019s repeated requests for comment.<\/p>\n Tenant aid providers said they\u2019ve entered their third month without funding from the city. They said without an executed contract, legal aid organizations may soon have to lay off staff and stop taking eviction cases.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people who are providing the services are all in nonprofit organizations that don’t have a great deal of extra funding to cover this contract that isn’t being paid,\u201d said Barbara Schultz, housing director at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n How we got here<\/p>\n Feldstein Soto has held up the tenant aid funding since April 2025, when she refused to sign<\/a> a previously approved five-year funding deal with the Legal Aid Foundation. At the time, she argued the contract should have gone through a competitive bidding process.<\/p>\n City officials responded by putting out a request for proposals. They ultimately selected the Legal Aid Foundation, along with several other tenant rights groups, to receive funding set aside for rent relief, tenant education, enforcement<\/a> of the city\u2019s tenant anti-harassment ordinance and programs that provide free attorneys to tenants facing eviction.<\/p>\n Much of the funding for these homelessness prevention programs comes from the city\u2019s Measure ULA,<\/a> also known as the L.A. \u201cMansion Tax.\u201d That tax is now facing potential elimination from a statewide November ballot measure from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.<\/p>\n The city attorney\u2019s tenant rights track record\u00a0<\/p>\n Feldstein Soto has frequently clashed with tenant rights advocates.<\/p>\n She previously attempted to remove the word \u201cright\u201d from the city\u2019s \u201cRight To Counsel\u201d ordinance, which supplies free eviction defense attorneys<\/a> to qualified tenants.<\/p>\n Feldstein Soto also has faced criticism<\/a> for not prosecuting more landlords accused of rent gouging in the wake of the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires.<\/p>\n She also was accused of failing to defend the rights of tenants at the high-rise apartment complex Barrington Plaza<\/a>, who went to court to successfully fight wrongful evictions from landlord company Douglas Emmett, which donated to a campaign opposing Feldstein Soto\u2019s opponent in the 2022 election.<\/p>\n