San Jose leaders aren’t waiting for California to make a move this week to protect renters. They’re taking it into own hands.
With the state’s eviction ban set to expire Jan. 31, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday released a plan to extend protections through June. In preparation, the San Jose City Council will vote Tuesday on enacting temporary eviction moratorium — since Newsom’s proposal still needs the Legislature’s approval.
Before Newsom took action Monday, San Jose leaders drafted an emergency measure to halt evictions due to nonpayment of rent for tenants and mobile home owners who have been financially impacted by COVID-19.
If the Legislature does not approve the extension, San Jose’s protections would last until March 4, according to a memo from Housing Director Jacky Morales-Ferrand. If the state does extend protections this week, that plan would supersede the city’s measure.
“There are still vulnerable tenants. We still want people to remain in their homes,” Morales-Ferrand told San José Spotlight. “As long as the state of emergency existed, we wanted to make sure tenants stayed home and were protected.”
Newsom’s proposal does not stop a city or county from enacting a separate ordinance. Sacramento lawmakers are expected to vote on the legislative deal as early as Thursday. The plan protects tenants if they pay a total 25% of their rent starting from last September.
The local eviction moratorium will coincide with the local state of emergency. Morales-Ferrand said the city would consider extending the moratorium again if the local emergency is extended.
“The pandemic poses many threats to our community, but the most broadly felt risk for millions of families lies in getting pushed out of their homes,” Mayor Sam Liccardo said in a statement. “The agreement announced by the Governor and Legislative leadership provides needed protections from evictions as Californians once again pull together to weather this storm. We are thankful to our state leaders, who are working round the clock to extend the eviction moratorium to June 30 — and get rental relief quickly to the people most in need.”
Newsom’s new plan will also deploy $2.6 billion in aid to help landlords and tenants pay down debt.
“These critically needed federal funds, targeted to the most at-risk households with unpaid back rent, will help tenants stay afloat during and after this pandemic,” Newsom said in a statement. “Income-qualified tenants and their landlords can choose to receive direct rental assistance in exchange for forgiving prior rental debt.”
It is possible President Joe Biden’s administration will extend a nationwide eviction moratorium and renter protections until March 2021, according to Morales-Ferrand, but some councilmembers say there is no time to waste.
Councilmembers Maya Esparza and Pam Foley encouraged their colleagues to extend the city’s rent increase moratorium. The rent increase moratorium, which took effect April 28, stopped mobile home park owners and landlords from increasing rents on rent control units until Dec. 31.
“While we are hopeful that our new federal administration will continue to take significant action, experience has taught us that we are the final line of defense for our residents,” Esparza wrote in a Jan. 22 memo. “For the thousands of families in our communities at imminent risk of eviction, continuing the rent increase moratorium is an obvious step to continue protecting our most vulnerable residents, and ensure that they remain stably housed through this crisis.”
From September 2020 to January 2021, San Jose’s housing department recorded 2,032 notices of nonpayment of rent and 34 eviction notices. On average, residents who received eviction notices owed $13,500 in back rent from April to October.
According to a U.S. Household Pulse Survey, more than 5 million Californians behind on rent payments fear they will be evicted from their homes in the next two months.
Santa Clara County supervisors on Tuesday also are expected to adopt a similar temporary ban on evictions that would apply to those directly impacted by COVID-19.
On Jan. 20, Biden called on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to extend a federal moratorium on evictions and foreclosures on federally guaranteed mortgages. The protections were extended until March 31. Under the protection, mortgages can be paused for up to six months, even amid foreclosure.
The San Jose City Council meets at 1:30 p.m. To watch, visit San Jose’s YouTube page.
Contact Carly Wipf at [email protected] or follow @CarlyChristineW on Twitter.
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January 26, 2021 at 09:11AM
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