Concord may halt evictions and rent hikes

CONCORD » The Concord City Council will consider an ordinance that would halt evictions and rent increases for residents and businesses in the city as sheltering orders aimed at reducing the spread of the coronavirus take an economic toll.

After Gov. Gavin Newsom last week issued an order giving cities the authority to halt evictions for renters and homeowners, the City Council in a special meeting Thursday via teleconferencing directed city staff to draft an emergency ordinance to halt evictions while a county health order keeps nonessential businesses closed and people in their homes.

The council also voted in support of having staff include a moratorium on rent increases during the crisis.

While specifics of the ordinance will be discussed at a special meeting of the council Wednesday, City Attorney Susanne Brown said emergency ordinances could last 45 days.

The vote came after much urging by residents to enact the moratorium on evictions immediately.

Because the meeting was held via teleconferencing, with council members calling in, City Manager Valerie Barone and City Clerk Joelle Fockler read public comments submitted by email.

“We generally facilitate over 12,000 daily job placements for our day laborers, but are now only fielding a couple of calls a day and we, of course, have closed the Day Labor Center,” wrote Debra Ballinger, executive director of nonprofit Monument Impact. “So they are without income. We don’t want them to lose their homes.”

Concord resident George Fulmore wrote to urge the city to not only pass the moratorium but to create a hotline and have staff take calls for complaints about rent increases and eviction notices during the moratorium.

He also suggested the city set up a fund for donations to help Concord residents who are struggling economically as a result of the pandemic.

Already, major cities across the state have adopted similar moratoriums, including San Jose, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

During Thursday’s meeting, the Concord council also unanimously supported a move to authorize Barone to spend up to $200,000 on providing food for seniors who are staying in their homes as directed by the county’s sheltering order and to secure shelter for people who don’t have homes.

Mayor Tim McGallian and Vice Mayor Dominic Aliano have discussed with Meals on Wheels Diablo Region a way to increase their ability to provide food to seniors who are sheltering in place.

Under the plan authorized Thursday, city funds would go to working with Meals on Wheels to use the Mt. Diablo Unified School District’s central kitchen to create additional meals for seniors who self-identify as needing food during the outbreak and use volunteers and emergency workers to deliver those meals.

The cost of the program will depend on how many seniors sign up and how long the sheltering order remains in place, but each meal is estimated to cost $2.50 to prepare.

Also approved under the plan is for the city to pay for 10 rooms at two motels in Concord to house people who are homeless while the county health sheltering order is in place.

Since the county, according to Barone, has indicated that its homeless services division is at capacity in housing people and is prioritizing those who need isolation and self-quarantining because of illness, the city’s program will aim to provide housing for those who are not sick but need to get off the streets to protect their health.

Concord will partner with county workers to identify people with the greatest need for housing, and county workers on the CORE team that helps those struggling with homelessness would check in on those assigned hotel rooms.

The exact cost of that program is unknown since it would depend on how long the sheltering order is in place.

About half of the $200,000 for the emergency programs would come from the city’s general fund, while the other half would come from the Concord/ Pleasant Hill Health Care District.

Concord will work with Pleasant Hill to make sure they have access to some of that district funding, said city spokeswoman Jennifer Ortega.

“Admittedly, this is a drop in the bucket since it’s only 10 rooms,” Barone said. “But at least we can start to help some of those most at risk who are unsheltered.”