Your guide to the L.A. City Council District 5 race: Katy Yaroslavsky faces two challengers

Los Angeles City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky is fighting to retain her 5th District seat against two challengers who say she is resisting efforts to create more housing in the city.

The district includes some of the priciest real estate in Los Angeles, such as Bel Air and Holmby Hills, along with more historically middle-class enclaves Palms and the Fairfax District. The challengers, Henry Mantel and Morgan Oyler, both fault Yaroslavsky for voting with other City Council members to delay implementation of Senate Bill 79, last year’s state law aimed at increasing housing density near transit hubs.

“You can’t just keep kicking the can down the road and doing nothing about this,” said Mantel, a tenants’ rights lawyer who lives in Park La Brea.

Oyler, an accountant who lives in Westwood, supports upzoning large parts of the 5th District and other parts of the city, saying it will help address both high housing costs and the homelessness crisis.

Yaroslavsky, who lives in Mid City, defended her position on housing, contending that SB 79 was deeply flawed and that she is working to minimize its negative impacts.

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Voter guide to the 2026 California primary election

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May 1, 2026

Katy Young Yaroslavsky is running for L.A. City Council District 5.

(Campaign of Katy Young Yaroslavsky for City Council)

Yaroslavsky, 45, was named the council’s budget committee chair at the beginning of last year, a job that carries immense influence over city spending and that requires her to balance lofty political expectations with fiscal reality.

Yaroslavsky began her career as a land use attorney and lobbyist and later worked as a top aide to former Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl for more than six years. She is the daughter-in-law of former Fifth District City Councilmember Zev Yaroslavsky, who later served on the county board of supervisors.

“We need people in office who are interested in problem solving, not focused on gotcha politics. Who are not super ideological but are just really there to solve problems. And that’s what I’m there for,” Yaroslavsky said.

Henry Mantel is running for L.A. City Council District 5.

(Handout from Matt Mantel)

Mantel, 33, has worked on a handful of political campaigns, according to his campaign website, including Carolyn Ramsay’s unsuccessful campaign for the 4th District council seat in 2015. Mantel graduated from the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento in 2020. As a lawyer, he says he has represented tenants in disputes with landlords, including contesting evictions.

“The extent of the crisis really weighed on me, and watching the City Council continue to refuse to do nothing was just unbearable,” Mantel said.

Morgan Oyler is running for L.A. City Council District 5.

( Cory Aycock)

Oyler, 42, is a longtime accountant for Haus of Portraiture, a fine art portrait studio in Santa Monica. He was born and raised in L.A., attending high school in Santa Monica, and returned to live in Westwood about a decade ago. He sought election to the Washington statehouse in 2010 and 2012, running as a Republican and losing both times. He says he became a Democrat a decade ago, after becoming uneasy with President Trump’s influence on the GOP.

Oyler felt compelled to run because he sees Yaroslavsky’s policies as a barrier to sustainable housing growth.

District 5 is roughly bordered by the 405 Freeway on the west, Venice Boulevard on the south, Mulholland Drive on the north and stretching as far east as Western Avenue. Notable neighborhoods include Bel-Air, Westwood, Palms, Cheviot Hills, Century City, Beverlywood, Pico-Robertson, Beverly Grove, Miracle Mile, Carthay Circle, the Fairfax district and parts of Hancock Park.

Yaroslavsky opposed SB 79 with a majority of the City Council and voted to delay its implementation under a provision allowed under the law if cities add density on their own terms. Yaroslavsky supports increasing housing density near transit centers but said if left unchecked, the law could lead to more homes than can be accommodated by the city’s infrastructure.

As one of only two renters on the City Council, Yaroslavsky is a staunch defender of tenant rights and recently voted to lower the cap for rent increases on rent-stabilized apartments.

“My focus is really on making sure that we minimize negative impacts of [SB 79] and maximize flexibility and actually produce new housing that people want to live in,” Yaroslavsky said.

Mantel contends Yaroslavsky has thwarted efforts to increase the housing supply. He noted that SB 79’s aim — to increase housing near public transit hubs — also creates an opportunity to pull cars off the road and make the city accessible by bike or foot.

Oyler also believes that for Los Angeles to thrive, the city needs to create more housing that is accessible to public transit. Instead, he said, the city has sought to stop development of higher-density projects in single-family-home neighborhoods, which he called “the biggest failure at the city level for decades and decades.” High housing costs are pushing low-income residents outside of city limits, he said.

“I don’t want to see the next generation lose the opportunity to live in this place, because, frankly, it is the best place to live in the world right now,” Oyler said.

Oyler also wants to see the city add more bike lanes and pedestrian paths, saying he has given up his bike because it’s too dangerous to ride in his neighborhood.

Yaroslavsky credits Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe program for ridding her district of big homeless encampments, but said more data is needed to ensure the programs are cost-effective. She said one solution to the problem lies in providing housing for those being displaced by anti-encampment zones near schools and other protected areas.

“It strikes a balance between regulating sensitive public spaces and also being cognizant of the fact that we can’t house everybody. And so it’s important that we treat the people who are on the street with dignity,” Yaroslavsky said.

Mantel disagrees, saying Inside Safe and other homeless housing efforts are marginally effective and only “tinkering around the edges of the problem.”

Both Mantel and Oyler contend that the homelessness crisis stems from a housing shortage and that new housing developments will be the most effective measure to get people off the streets.

“We have spent billions and billions and billions of dollars and do not see any progress,” Oyler said. “And I think that those funds can be used better.”

Yaroslavsky supported higher pay for new LAPD recruits, saying it was needed to keep the city competitive with neighboring police forces. She said the city also needs to take a broader view of public safety through measures such as fixing broken street lights and improving traffic conditions.

“When we talk about public safety, we have to be talking about all of those in concert,” Yaroslavsky said, noting that more people die from vehicle crashes each year than from gun violence in L.A.

Mantel contends Yaroslavsky hasn’t used her position as budget chair to scrutinize and challenge police spending.

“I don’t see how you can call yourself fiscally responsible while standing in the way of housing getting built, not doing enough to fix our streets and then also just throwing more money at the police every time they ask,” Mantel said.

The main problem with the Los Angeles Police Department is not its large budget but its management and day-to-day philosophies, Oyler said, criticizing what he called the department’s aggressive tactics toward journalists and protesters during immigration enforcement protests last year.

Oyler thinks the LAPD shouldn’t cooperate with federal immigration officers, but wants police to step up enforcement of traffic laws.

“Running stop signs, the expired tags, the no license plates — it’s become a scourge,” he said.