Task force calls for more rent support

A ‘right to recall’ order for laid-off workers is one recommendation

A San Jose task force focused on the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on the city’s residents of color presented a list of recommendations Wednesday that include requiring businesses to pay for employees’ personal protective equipment, giving workers the right to return to their former jobs if they were laid off because of the pandemic and more funding for direct rent assistance for families at risk of eviction.

The 30 recommendations, which include expanding culturally competent and multilingual outreach, extending eviction protections and funding food delivery programs in hard-hit neighborhoods, were approved unanimously by the city council’s Rules and Open Government Committee. The full council will discuss the recommendations Tuesday.

Council member Magdalena Carrasco, who co-chaired the task force and whose district includes

many of the hardest-hit ZIP codes in Santa Clara County, said Latino residents have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

“COVID-19 is cruel; it’s such a cruel virus and once it attaches itself, it’s this parasite that runs through your community,” she said. “It’s so cruel because when you think of who it decided to attack, it’s the hardworking essential workers … it’s running rampant through agricultural workers, and my God you could not find a more vulnerable community.”

The task force was formed following news articles highlighting the toll the virus had taken on East San Jose, including reporting from this news organization that found a third of the first 100 COVID-19 deaths in Santa Clara County were among residents in four ZIP codes in the city’s heavily Latino and lower-income East Side. About 26% of Santa Clara County residents are Latinos, but Latinos make up almost 55% of positive cases and 33% of deaths. The 95122 and 95116 ZIP codes in East San Jose both have case rates higher than 200 per 10,000 residents, double the rate of the city as a whole.

Many of the recommendations focused on expanding testing availability, economic protections for people who have lost their jobs and programs that help people to isolate if they receive a positive diagnosis. Latino residents, experts said, are at higher risk of infection because they’re more likely to have to work outside the home and then come back to crowded, multigenerational houses.

The task force recommended the city require businesses to either provide or reimburse all onsite workers for personal protective equipment, including those working for gig delivery companies. Carrasco equated providing protective equipment to companies providing workers’ uniforms. The group also wants workers laid off because of the pandemic in industries such as hospitality, airports, event centers and building services to be given the right to go back to their original jobs once economic conditions improve. A similar order, known as a “right to recall” ordinance, was approved in Oakland in July.

Finally, the panel said the city should provide additional rent relief, including direct assistance to tenants rather than property owners. Carrasco said that could be done with emergency pandemic assistance funding the city received.

Assembly member Kansen Chu, whose district includes parts of San Jose and who co-chaired the task force, said he was particularly interested in efforts to expand culturally competent outreach and contact tracing, particularly for residents whose first language is not English.

“We need to proactively go into those ethnic media newspapers, radio and so on and so forth,” he said.

That outreach is critical in immigrant communities wary of government sources and concerned about how testing information could be used for immigration enforcement, said task force member Dolores Alvarado, CEO of Community Health Partnership, a membership organization made up of community health centers in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.

“These are folks who are either themselves undocumented or have family members who are undocumented and are afraid,” Alvarado said.

Many of the recommendations focused on Santa Clara County’s pandemic response, and Carrasco said Supervisor Cindy Chavez, whose district includes East San Jose, is supportive of the task force. She said communication between community health clinics and county officials has increased since the task force was formed. The recommendations also will be presented at a Board of Supervisors meeting.

Some findings are directed at the state, including urging CalOSHA to create emergency safety standards related to COVID-19. Chu said he sent a letter to fellow legislators and to Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this month hoping to spur further action to help communities of color.

“We’ve got to get all hands on deck,” Chu said. “This is not a local issue — it’s a statewide issue and it’s a nationwide issue.”

“We need to proactively go into those ethnic media newspapers, radio and so on and so forth.” — Kansen Chu, Assembly member