LA County can serve evictions, but activists are working to prevent them

Emergency rules banning evictions in California during the coronavirus pandemic are set to end on September 2. But some counties have already started processing evictions on tenants who had already lost in court before COVID-19 struck, often for missed payments in February or March. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has about 1,000 eviction orders in play. Activists from the LA Tenants Union have gathered in Hollywood to prevent one of those evictions from being carried out. Alex McElvain, who writes for KNOCK-LA, a news publication run by the progressive non-profit organization Ground Game LA, spoke to KCRW from the scene.

“The tenant… has been a resident at this unit for 20 years. Last March he had experienced a case of identity theft,” McElvain says. “He had been paying his rent via direct deposit and apparently that didn't go through, the news of which was relayed to him when he received an eviction notice.”

Sheriff’s deputies gave a notice of eviction on August 3 and informed the tenant that the lock out would come on August 18. Activists gathered at the property on Tuesday afternoon to stop deputies from carrying out the evictition. McElvain said that the deputies never showed up. The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has not returned requests for comment on the eviction.

McElvain says that tenant’s rights advocates are making a point to prevent more lockouts as eviction orders make their way through the courts.