With statewide protections for commercial rentals set to expire on Sept. 30 and businesses becoming vulnerable to potential evictions, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors desperately rushed to introduce legislation at Tuesday’s board meeting that would buy tenants more time.
District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin and other supervisors sponsored an emergency ordinance that would extend the business rent deadline for 60 days after protections end next week. But passing it will be tight, assuming that the earliest the Supes can vote on it is on Sept. 29.
This appears to be the only real option for small business owners who want to buy more time, since Gov. Gavin Newsom has not yet announced another statewide extension of a rent moratorium, Peskin’s legislative aide Lee Hepner told Mission Local.
His boss tweeted as much on Monday.
“We cannot punish small businesses for playing by the rules. It is absurd to think they can afford to pay back rent starting Oct 1.,” Peskin tweeted.
“Without an extension of state eviction protections, we’ll be left w [sicc] the plainly inadequate option of extending emergency relief for a max 60 days,” he continued.
Legally, municipalities have their hands tied regarding certain regulations of rent, but during the time of coronavirus no tenant had to pay the pied piper thanks to an executive order put forth by Newsom back on March 16. State politicians and Mayor London Breed renewed protections that lasted up until now, but these end next Wednesday.
So Peskin and District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston drafted a resolution urging the governor to continue the extension, which the Supes voted on unanimously today in a lengthy meeting, according to Hepner.
But even if this happens, it doesn’t mean renters are off the hook. Only the emergency ordinance can really accomplish that, and Peskin and Preston said in a column that this too just “buys more time for the state to act.”
“[Small business owners] want some certainty and unfortunately that is bungled up in state law,” Hepner said.
Commercial tenants are allowed to miss a payment for up to six months during the pandemic if they pay back-rent — otherwise, they must work out a deal with their landlords or face eviction.
Yet, stopping the “business eviction moratorium” could be a relief for small landlords, considering they still need to cough up money for mortgage payments and personal bills. At present, the only way for landlords to get around this is to apply for a waiver that demonstrates a need to evict due to a financial hardship.
Early on the city encouraged landlords to work out payment plans with renters, and some managed to negotiate when missing money would be owed. Some have not been able to come to agreements, positioning some business owners who have lost months of revenue for eviction.
Since January, the city introduced loans and business grants to deter some of the ravaging effects the pandemic had on the local workforce. But navigating reopening has inevitably made a dent in some industries, especially for those like salons and gyms that had only been able to invite customers in again recently.
The final “tool” the Supes have in the works is a plan that allows business owners to pay all back-rent by Dec. 31, 2021 instead of six months from when the moratorium expires (so as of right now, March 2021).
It also permits small landlords — those who rent out less than 25,000 square feet of space — to use “hardship protections.” However, this is contingent on whether or not the governor extends rent payment across California, and it is currently unclear whether or not that will happen.
“We’re kind of down to the wire,” Hepner said. “For all the small businesses we are talking to, all they really want is accountability.”
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September 23, 2020 at 01:11PM
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Supes push to extend Sept. 30 business eviction moratorium - Mission Local
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