LA Authorizes Master Leases With Apartment Owners

Los Angeles wants to become a landlord and sublease apartments to homeless residents.

The City Council voted to launch a “master leasing” program to lease all or part of an apartment building, then sublease units to homeless residents with supportive services, City News Service reported via the Los Angeles Daily News.

The motion, authored by Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, follows a similar program run by Los Angeles County to access housing for homeless people.

The city will begin with a pilot program in Yaroslavsky’s Fifth District, which includes West L.A. The city administrative officer will identify funding for the pilot program, as well as for its possible expansion citywide.

In addition, the city attorney and CAO risk managers will look at the agreement between the county and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority to identify potential risks and liabilities, plus plans to address any issues.

Yaroslavsky said there are now few interim housing sites for homeless people in her district — and that a master-leasing plan could quickly put roofs over their heads.

With new state funding, the county and LAHSA launched a master-leasing initiative in November. In three months, they’ve leased and filled 105 apartments, with more than 530 units in the pipeline. The county wants to lease 1,700 units by the end of the year.

An estimated 75,518 residents are homeless in Los Angeles County, according to the most recent count, including 46,260 people in the city of Los Angeles, according to the agency.

“It’s my hope that we will move with the appropriate urgency to quickly realize and get the program off the ground,” Yaroslavsky said.

Any units leased and rented through the program beyond June 2027 would count toward the city’s “Alliance” lawsuit settlement goals, the city’s chief legislative analyst reported.

LA Alliance for Human Rights sued the city and county to compel elected officials to rapidly address the homelessness crisis, especially during the pandemic.

In March 2022, the city settled with LA Alliance, and set goals for the city to house a minimum of 60 percent of those living on the streets in each of the 15 council districts.

This month, the Alliance filed a legal motion demanding the city face a nearly $6.4 million fine for its alleged lack of transparency and failure to reduce homeless encampments. The group sued the county on similar grounds.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the motion “baseless,” saying the city brought thousands more unhoused Angelenos inside last year than two years ago.

— Dana Bartholomew