Los Angeles City Council members are poised to vote Tuesday on roughly $177 million in fast-tracked contracts, funneling taxpayer cash to a tight circle of powerful tenant-advocacy nonprofits — including groups that have repeatedly sued the city.
The package, championed by lefty mayoral hopeful Councilmember Nithya Raman, would lock in three-year deals financed largely by Measure ULA’s mansion-tax revenue. The money will primarily be used to run tenant eviction defense and homelessness-prevention programs.
Nithya Raman leads the Los Angeles City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee where the contracts were already approved. Ringo Chiu for CA PostEarlier this month, Raman’s Housing and Homelessness Committee signed off on the plan, clearing the way for final council approval of contracts with four dominant players in LA’s tenant-advocacy ecosystem: the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE), Liberty Hill Foundation and the Southern California Housing Rights Center.
Together, the organizations form the backbone of the city’s “Stay Housed LA” network — a powerful alliance that provides legal defense, rental assistance and tenant organizing across Los Angeles while wielding significant influence at City Hall.
The same groups are also widely known for their aggressive street activism, organizing protests, demonstrations and rent strikes, and for filing high-profile lawsuits against the city over homelessness sweeps, policing and housing policies.
An apartment building in Los Angeles, where tenants and housing advocates say rising rents and eviction fears have fueled demand for legal defense. Jonathan Alcorn for California PostThe largest share — more than $106 million — would go to the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles for what the organization says is eviction defense services.
Legal Aid attorneys have repeatedly taken aggressive legal positions against city policies. One of its lawyers, Shayla Myers, recently represented a coalition that sued Los Angeles over efforts to dismantle abandoned RV encampments, arguing the city lacked legal authority to seize the vehicles.
SAJE has also repeatedly taken the city to court over land-use decisions, including a high-profile lawsuit challenging a hotel project on public land in South Los Angeles. Ringo Chiu for CA PostThe Post previously reported that another group poised to receive $6 million from the city — SAJE — has already taken in at least $1.43 million in public funds since 2020.
The activist organization has drawn controversy for its hard-line positions, calling not just for police to be defunded but for the department to be “abolished,” promoting hotel boycotts and opposing Los Angeles’ plans to host the 2028 Olympics.
SAJE has also repeatedly taken the city to court over land-use decisions, including a high-profile lawsuit challenging a hotel project on public land in South Los Angeles, accusing officials of sidestepping planning rules and walking away from promised affordable housing.
The full council vote is expected Tuesday.
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