Caring for L.A.’s Caretakers

This Friday, the Los Angeles City Council will vote on my motion, which I co-authored with Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, to protect renters in the wake of the most destructive wildfires in Los Angeles history.

When I put this motion forward at the first City Council meeting after the fires, I included an urgency clause to have these protections take immediate effect so that we could begin providing displaced Angelenos with at least a semblance of stability. 

Two weeks ago, Council had an opportunity to get this motion across the finish line. Instead, the motion was sent back to committee.

The people this legislation is meant to protect can no longer continue to put their lives on hold as corporate profiteers cash in on unimaginable tragedy, exploiting this crisis through rampant price gouging. 

When the wildfires hit the Palisades and Altadena, we didn’t hesitate to take action. Together, Angelenos from all walks of life launched air quality relief centers, donated resources, conducted safety trainings, and hosted meal drives. All of Los Angeles dropped everything to make sure people had shelter, food, PPE and more. Because that’s what this community does: we show up for each other.

But when it comes to a different community — working-class, immigrant Angelenos — the urgency starts to disappear. Instead of real relief, we get amendments, means-testing and deliberation, and instead of treating this like the crisis it is, we let bureaucracy and the landlord lobby decide who is worthy of protection.

Let’s be clear: my district wasn’t in the fire zone, but my constituents — the housekeepers, the nannies, and the gardeners who keep those neighborhoods running — are suffering in the wake of this emergency. They don’t have the luxury of just finding another job. Many are undocumented, shut out of unemployment benefits, and living paycheck to paycheck. When rents spike and when evictions go unchecked, they are the first to fall through the cracks.

We cannot abandon the very people who have always taken care of this city.

This is not about a secret political agenda.

This is not about peddling some sort of pro-tenant propaganda.

This is not about any sort of imagined crusade against mom-and-pop landlords.

This is about saving lives. Every delay, every compromise, every piece of these protections that we dilute, means more people falling into the eviction-to-homelessness pipeline.  

And it all happens as the Trump administration gears up to attack immigrant communities. If we allow rent gouging to continue, we are pushing undocumented tenants even deeper into instability and onto the streets, potentially exposing them to ICE agents who are reportedly planning to carry out a “large scale” immigration enforcement action in the area before the end of the month.

As the daughter of immigrants, one of my greatest achievements was making Los Angeles a Sanctuary City. But in times like this, I can’t help but wonder: what does it mean to be a safe harbor? To me, it means action. It means lifting the floor to protect our most vulnerable and actually ensuring that people have a place to live.

I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve done to defend our people, but we are on the frontlines of a national fight, and the country is looking to us for guidance. Now is not the time for hand wringing. Now is the time to be bolder than ever before — because make no mistake about it: that’s exactly what the Trump administration is doing. Whether it’s to cut aid or target our most vulnerable, he is coming for our people: for immigrants, for the working poor, for single mothers and students and teachers and elders. We must cast our safety net wider and stand up to the forces that want to displace, deport, and destabilize our communities.

City Council must pass this legislation.

No more delays.

No more excuses.

We need real protections and we need them now. Because in the face of fascism, in the face of unfettered greed, and in the face of crisis, Los Angeles takes care of the people who have always taken care of Los Angeles.

(*) Eunisses Hernandez is a Councilmember for District One of the City of Los Angeles.