State proposal offers broader tenant protections

Measure would ban evictions for back rent owed due to pandemic

Lawmakers on Wednesday introduced a measure for long-term eviction relief for renters struggling through the coronavirus pandemic as a state judicial council delayed a decision on dropping a temporary ban on renter-landlord court hearings.

Bay Area lawmakers proposed a statewide ban on evictions for back rent owed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The measure would give stressed renters up to 15 months after the health emergency has lifted to pay back debts while allowing landlords to pursue civil claims to recoup lost rent. The measure, AB1436, also encourages tenants and landlords to reach private agreements to settle accounts.

Assembly member David Chiu, D-San Francisco, said the pandemic has put millions of California renters at risk for eviction. Increasing homelessness and stacking families into tighter quarters would compound health risks, he said. Assembly members

Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, and Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, also endorsed the measure.

“We cannot allow a wave of mass evictions,” Chiu said. “That would have catastrophic, catastrophic consequences for California.”

The proposal comes as the Judicial Council of California on Wednesday decided to postpone a decision on whether to drop its emergency ban on eviction hearings, and reopen courts to aggrieved landlords. The statewide ban, opposed by powerful landlord groups, will remain in place.

Chief Justice Tani CantilSakauye said she suspended the vote after consulting with Gov. Gavin Newsom, lawmakers, judicial council members and residents. “I believe the executive and legislative branches will need more time to sort through various policy proposals,” Cantil-Sakauye said in a statement.

Members of the judicial council have argued the Legislature needs to enact more permanent protections.

But lawmakers have urged the council to hold off on lifting the restrictions. In a letter this week to the council, Chiu and Assembly member Mark Stone, D-Monterey Bay, said lifting the ban in August would leave renters unprotected for months until a new law can be passed and enacted, which could be as late as January.

“We strongly advise that you reconsider this action,” the lawmakers wrote and encouraged the ban to remain in place through the end of the year.

The pandemic has sent 4.9 million Californians to unemployment lines, hitting service workers and employees of small businesses hard. Enhanced federal unemployment benefits are scheduled to end in July, leaving many renters and landlords concerned over future payments.

In response to the economic

upheaval, most Bay Area governments have passed a

patchwork of eviction bans and renter protections. Some of the measures are scheduled to end in coming months. San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco all have enacted and updated

bans as the crisis drags into a fourth month.

The San Jose moratorium lasts through June 30 and allows tenants up to 12 months to fully repay back rent. Oakland protections

extend to the end of the local emergency or Aug. 31, whichever date comes first. San Francisco supervisors this week permanently banned landlords from starting evictions because of rent missed during the pandemic.

Santa Clara County protections last through August, andmeasures in San Mateo County expire June 30 and end in Contra Costa County on July 15. The bans broadly prevent evictions for any reason, with exceptions for health and safety and if a rental is taken off the market.

Napa County is the only Bay Area county that has not passed eviction protections.

The new state proposal would lock in certain protections without addressing

underlying financing. The California Apartment Association said it had not fully analyzed the bill, but the association criticized it for not addressing the debts and mortgages of small property owners.

“Under this bill, landlords will go years without rent payments,” said Debra Carlton of the CAA. “Those owners will struggle to pay their own bills, resulting in foreclosures at many properties, and the loss of muchneeded rental housing.”

Tenant advocates praised the bill for seeking to avoid a tidal wave of evictions and sending thousands of vulnerable renters, especially in immigrant and minority communities, into homelessness.

“This is an unprecedented crisis,” said Brian

Augusta of the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation. “I think we need an unprecedented solution.”

Patricia Mendoza, a single mother of two schoolaged children in San Diego, lost her job in late March. Mendoza has made ends meet through unemployment checks and trips to food banks.

Mendoza, a member of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, said she would not be able to afford paying all of her back rent.

“We live paycheck to paycheck,” she said. “I’m extremely worried about how I’m going to continue to keep a roof over our heads.”