California tenants are fighting back as landlords exploit a new state law to eliminate their parking spaces and build tiny rental units in their place.
Tracey Ellis, 70, has called a rent-stabilized building near the Sunset Strip home since 2001. She relies on a cane to walk, and even brief trips on foot cause her severe pain. Her assigned garage spot is what gets her to doctors appointments and the grocery store. She and fellow tenants learned recently that their landlord plans to construct a new unit above their garages, potentially blocking access for one to two years during construction, and possibly permanently after that.
“Parking in this city is a lifeline for people, and to take away their parking – why don’t you just take half my house or apartment?” Ellis said to the LA Times.
“It’s my freedom,” she added.
Ellis, who pays just over $1,600 monthly, said tenants were initially offered a $100 discount to surrender their parking spaces. She worries that amount would barely offset alternative transportation costs.
The conversions are enabled by Senate Bill 1211, which took effect in January 2025 as part of California’s broader push to address its housing shortage. The law makes it easier to add accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, to multi-unit properties, including by transforming garages and other non-residential spaces. Crucially, it prohibits cities from forcing property owners to replace eliminated parking.
Landlords gain additional rental income without acquiring new land. Tenants face the loss of guaranteed parking, the grind of hunting for street spaces, or the pressure to relocate entirely. Older and disabled residents bear the heaviest burden, according to the Los Angeles Times.
In Silver Lake, Karen Numme, 83, has lived in her rent-stabilized home since 1995. Her landlord intends to permanently remove her garage space and erect two apartments in its place. With limited mobility, she faces the prospect of navigating the neighborhood’s steep streets to find parking.
Numme has filed suit alleging the plan breaches California fair housing and disability laws plus local tenant protections. Her attorney, Frances Campbell, delivered a pointed message to property owners. “Build all you want, that’s OK with me. Landlords, make as much money as you can – but don’t make it on the back of old and disabled people,” Campbell told the LA Times.
A Hollywood rent-stabilized building has become another flashpoint. Residents there challenged permits that would convert 20 parking spaces into nine ADUs. A judge stopped construction in May while that case proceeds. The tenants argue parking was guaranteed in their rental agreements and its removal illegally alters their leases.
“Our position is you are evicting somebody from their rental unit,” their attorney, Sabrina Venskus, told the LA Times.
The property owner’s attorney, Jacob H. Zadeh, framed the project as a pragmatic response to the city’s housing demands. “I do feel sympathetic for the tenants losing parking,” he said. “But what is the other option, tearing down the whole building?”
Housing advocates defend the law’s priorities. Matthew Lewis, communications director for California YIMBY, the pro-housing group that co-sponsored SB 1211 in 2024, contends Los Angeles faces a housing crisis, not a parking shortage.
“Is parking more important for Angelenos, or housing?” Lewis asked the Times.
Los Angeles planning officials told the Times they are “sympathetic to tenants” losing parking but must approve ADU permits because the city “cannot override state law.” In a statement, they emphasized that “the creation of new housing and reduction of auto reliance and parking are also important policy goals of both the city and state.” They noted that many affected tenants would qualify for rent reductions and, where relevant, could request new disabled parking spaces on their blocks.
