By Los Angeles County Politics
A $7 million pilot program to help LA renters fight eviction ballooned to more than $90 million over five years — and the city’s top lawyer says she still can’t tell where much of the money went.
Lame duck Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto last week released her second “Report in the Public Interest” on the city’s Stay Housed LA program, announcing her office will finalize $177 million in new tenant aid contracts while continuing to investigate how the money already paid to the program’s lead contractor was spent.
“I am fully committed to supporting these crucial eviction defense services for our vulnerable neighbors in need. Questions remain, however, about how the grants of $90 million were spent during the first 5 years of this program,” said Feldstein Soto. “Taxpayers deserve transparency and accountability and to know that their money is being used as intended – in this case, to protect vulnerable tenants at risk of unlawful evictions.”
Stay Housed LA, funded jointly by the City and County of Los Angeles, provides eviction defense lawyers, rental assistance and tenant education for renters facing unlawful eviction proceedings.
The four new contracts, which run three years, go to the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) for eviction defense and prevention, roughly $107 million; the Southern California Housing Rights Center (HRC) for short-term emergency rental assistance, roughly $42 million; the Liberty Hill Foundation for tenant outreach and education, roughly $22 million; and Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE) for outreach on the city’s Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance, roughly $7 million. Much of the funding comes from Measure ULA, a.k.a. the mansion tax, the voter-approved transfer tax on high-value property sales.
As of the July 2 report, the SAJE and HRC contracts have been finalized and signed, the LAFLA contract is nearly finalized, and the Liberty Hill contract awaits Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) approval of its updated budget.
The announcement breaks an impasse dating to May 2025, during which Feldstein Soto withheld her signature from contracts the City Council and Mayor Karen Bass approved. At their direction, her office will now execute the agreements while the review of prior spending continues.
The original contract began in 2021 as a $7 million pilot awarded to LAFLA under a COVID-era exception to competitive bidding. It was amended and extended nine times, growing to more than $90 million.
Feldstein Soto’s report states that City grants to LAFLA grew from $459,985 in 2020 to $46,986,705 in 2025 — nearly two-thirds of the nonprofit’s government grant funding that year — yet none of LAFLA’s public audits or tax returns mention Stay Housed LA by name, leaving what she calculates as up to $58 million in eviction defense grant funds unaccounted for in public filings.
Feldstein Soto is evaluating the continued use of an independent forensic accountant to determine whether city funds were used solely for authorized tenant services, and why eviction defense spending declined while city funding increased, and whether contractual reporting requirements were satisfied.
LAFLA Director of Housing Justice Barbara Schultz disputed Soto’s allegations, telling LAis that taxpayer dollars have not been misspent and that no findings have been made to that effect, noting the organization holds more than 40 federal, state and local government contracts.
LAHD, which administers the contracts, told LAist that LAFLA complied with every information request. Stay Housed LA reports assisting tenants in more than 27,000 eviction cases, with 53 percent of fully represented tenants staying in their homes.
Feldstein Soto, who placed third in last month’s primary, leaves office in December — meaning the forensic review will conclude under her successor.
