In a move they say could help decrease homelessness, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to look into creating a legal defense program and providing financial assistance to help residents avoid eviction.

The 5-0 vote by the Board comes a day after a report from research and analysis firm Axiometrics found that Los Angeles County’s average rent — which takes into account all apartment units ranging from studio apartments to penthouse units — was $2,271 in February, up 2.5 percent from a year earlier. L.A. County’s occupancy rate for apartments was 96.3 percent in February, up from 96 percent in January and even with the year-ago rate.

Board supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who authored the motion, said prevention is among the goals in the county’s initiatives on homelessness, which was launched in 2015. The plan includes several ways to house those who already are homeless.

“This would add a new concept to how we would reduce homelessness,” Kuehl said of the creation of a legal defense fund and financial assistance. She said it was equally important to focus on those “who are not on the streets today, but those who may fall into homelessness tomorrow.”

Kuehl said there were 56,354 eviction actions filed in 2015 in Los Angeles County. Last year, there were almost 47,000 homeless people on any given night in Los Angeles County, up 5.7 percent from 2015, according to an annual count conducted by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Of those, 14 percent reported that eviction or foreclosure was the direct cause of their homelessness, according to her motion. Kuehl also said 90 percent of those who are evicted lacked legal representation.

“Numerous studies have demonstrated that legal representation, particularly legal representation coupled with financial assistance, can prevent households facing eviction from losing their homes,” Kuehl said in her motion.

She said a program in New York City invests $62 million a year to help reduce evictions because of legal representation and she hopes Los Angeles County can create a similar model.

A recent report found that Los Angeles County spent nearly $1 billion on services for about 150,000 homeless people in 2015.

“It’s a lot more cost efficient to keep someone in their home than what to do after they’ve lost their home,” Kuehl noted.

At least 250 people a week seek assistance with eviction through the Shriver Housing Project-LA Eviction Assistance Center, which is operated through Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County said Cassandra Goodman, supervising attorney at the center. Almost 30 percent are disabled or live with someone who is disabled, Goodman said, and half of the 250 have young children.

But a lack of resources forces the center to turn people away, Goodman added, which is why such centers need more funding.

“Each week, we turn away families because we are understaffed,” she said.

Kuehl’s motion comes just a few weeks after Los Angeles County voters approved Measure H, a quarter-cent sales tax to help shore up funding for social services for people who are homeless. In November, Los Angeles City voters approved Proposition HHH, a property tax increase that will raise money to allow the city to build 8,000 to 10,000 units of supportive permanent housing for the next 10 years.

On Tuesday, Kuehl asked several county departments to look into how legal defense funds could be bolstered and to report back to the board in 60 days.

Staff Writer Kevin Smith contributed to this report.