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OPINION: New Council Motion Will Force Mom-and-Pop Landlords Out of the City— A Cost That Hits Everyone
West Side Current
January 6, 2026
LOS ANGELES – As I listened to the Los Angeles City Council take action that would further restrict community housing providers already struggling under existing rent control policies, I wondered to myself: is anyone else seeing what I’m seeing?
The Los Angeles City Council – the same group of elected leaders who have pledged to address the housing crisis head on, are now working to make it worse after successfully voting for higher expenses for mom-and-pop property owners like me – which ultimately threatens to exacerbate the housing crisis our city is already facing.
Behind the majority of small rental properties in Los Angeles lies a story of middle and working-class people who purchased property as a path to financial security. These mom-and-pop housing providers aren’t wealthy investors or private equity firms. They’re teachers, nurses, behind-the-scenes entertainment workers, and retirees who own a handful of units.
I work at a property management company that supports these small property owners, many of whom juggle full-time jobs while managing buildings to supplement income or prepare for retirement. However, due to the city’s ongoing assault on landlords through overly restrictive rental control policies since the pandemic, many of these owners are on the brink of losing everything they’ve worked to create.
Now, the City Council just passed even stricter regulations on small, mom-and-pop landlords. The direction is clear: the city will squeeze small mom-and-pop housing providers even further and punish those who provide sorely-needed housing to city residents. Small property owners are forced to absorb mandates without corresponding rent relief, such as: DWP utility rate increases, city trash fee increases, minimum wage increases that affect their entire business, rising inspection and permitting fees, insurance premium hikes, seismic retrofit requirements costing upwards of $100,000 per building, new balcony inspection mandates, fire hardening costs, and new appliance requirements.
The city demands compliance with these mandates while barring housing providers from raising rents accordingly. Who is supposed to pay for these city-imposed costs? The answer is increasingly becoming nobody, because property owners simply can’t afford to stay in business.
During the height of the pandemic, many providers lost months, even years, of rent. One of my clients had to sell her four-unit building during the pandemic. Her elderly mother lived in one unit, another tenant stopped paying rent, and a third damaged their unit and moved out. With only one rent check coming in, she moved into the building with her mother to try to fix it up herself. Eventually, she drained her savings and was forced to sell. Post-COVID, I met with at least four owners whose buildings were under our management and were going up for sale because the owners couldn’t afford to continue; people who relied on rental income for a spouse’s cancer treatment or a parent’s dementia care, pushed out by policies that protect bad-faith tenants and discourage investment in our communities.
The city claims to protect renters, but it’s making small-scale ownership impossible. When you combine severe rent caps with mounting property taxes, surging insurance premiums, and ongoing maintenance costs, you’re forcing out community-minded landlords and inviting in faceless operators.
These extreme rent restrictions make Los Angeles less attractive to prospective builders considering projects that would add desperately needed housing in LA. If the city puts such draconian restrictions on current housing providers, why would anyone want to invest in creating more rental properties in the future? The city is slowly killing the housing industry.
If Los Angeles is serious about solving the housing crisis, it must stop penalizing property owners who have helped keep our communities housed and start creating policies that support their continued investment in the city.
The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed in this column are those of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Westside Current.
Irma Vargas is the Chief Financial Officer of RST & Associates, a property management firm based in Los Angeles that serves smaller landlords and housing providers across the city. She brings over 45 years of experience in property management, real estate, and housing policy.
Author: Irma Vargas