After COVID death, eviction closes in
Mother of four faces homelessness as loopholes in pandemic moratorium allow displacement
Yvette Mendoza moved into her ex-boyfriend’s San Jose apartment to care for their three children in January — a move the parents thought would stabilize the family during hard times.
Her ex-boyfriend, Marcus Guaracha, had contracted COVID-19 and struggled through a long hospital stay. Guaracha asked Mendoza to permanently move into his apartment, take his federal Section 8 housing voucher and custody of their children. On Feb. 6, Guaracha died.
Weeks later, the landlord sued to evict Mendoza, her newborn baby, three small children and partner.
A statewide eviction moratorium, now reaching 15-months long, still has enough legal exceptions to allow courtroom battles and displacement for pandemicstruck families like hers. Violating terms of a rental agreement — Mendoza’s name was not on the lease or voucher — can bring an eviction notice.
“My heart shattered,” Mendoza said. “I was trying to be a good person.”
Although rare, eviction cases continue throughout the Bay Area, including more than 1,000 court filings, known as unlawful detainers, in Santa Clara County since state and local moratoriums were enacted a year ago.
The statewide eviction moratorium, extended through June 30, has dramatically reduced displacements. It prevents landlords from tak
ing action after the moratorium against tenants for failing to pay during the pandemic, as long as tenants have paid one-quarter of the rent owed during the crisis.
Filings for residential evictions in Santa Clara County Superior Court fell 68% from 2019 to 2020, down to 841 last year.
The court has handled about 370 cases so far this year. Fewer eviction cases have been filed in other Superior Courts in the Bay Area.
A patchwork of state and local rental relief programs has provided a backstop for struggling renters, but they do not prevent displacement.
Although tenants cannot be evicted for nonpayment of rent if they’ve been sick or lost wages due to the pandemic, they can be subject to court actions when they violate other terms of the lease, commit crimes, or pose a threat to other tenants or the community.
Section 8 housing is a federal voucher program with a long waiting list that subsidizes rent for low-income residents.
The Santa Clara County Housing Authority administers 17,000 vouchers, allowing tenants to pay a portion of their income toward rent from a private landlord.
Vouchers come with stringent rules. Santa Clara eviction lawyer Todd Rothbard said landlords can face stiff penalties for breaking Section 8 rules. The program details the family size, members and maximum amount of fair market rent the government will pay. “People lead complicated lives,” he said. “Nobody goes around and does a bed check.”
Mendoza is fighting the eviction.
Mendoza, 33, and Guaracha had an on-and-off relationship for about 10 years, she said. The couple had three children, now between the ages of 4 and 9, and shared custody and parenting responsibilities. Mendoza has battled drug addiction, and the couple struggled with consistent jobs and housing for years, she said.
They came together for the holidays, and Mendoza, then expecting a child with her current boyfriend, was sick with the virus. She believes she spread COVID-19 to Guaracha, who was already suffering from a serious kidney ailment.
Guaracha started to feel sick in early January and soon was hospitalized. He asked Mendoza and her boyfriend, who had been staying with family, to move into his apartment and care for the children.
Shortly after Guaracha died, his sister also succumbed to the virus. Her teenage daughter moved into the apartment with Mendoza.
Mendoza’s still upset she brought the virus to her former partner.
A month after Guaracha’s death, Mendoza gave birth to a son, Michael James. “I was taking over everything,” Mendoza said.
The new mother paid the family’s share of rent, about $340 of the $2,750 owed each month, for February and March. But Mendoza said the landlord refused to accept further payments and filed a notice of eviction on March 26.
In court papers, property owner B&M Investment claims Mendoza and her boyfriend moved into Guaracha’s apartment without permission. A lawyer for the property owner, Brian Skarbek, said the landlord wants to follow federal law and rent the unit to another
eligible family. Mendoza was not named on the housing voucher, and neither was her partner.
Nassim Moallem, representing Mendoza for the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, said her problems were not unique. If Mendoza, her partner and the children lose their apartment, they’ll likely have to split up and find room with friends or family members.
“It creates this ripple effect for other families,”
Moallem said.
The transfer of a housing voucher requires eligibility verifications and approval from the Santa Clara Housing Authority, a process that can take months. A spokesperson for the Santa Clara County Housing Authority declined to comment on the case. Moallem said the agency granted the voucher to Mendoza after this news organization inquired about it.
Attorneys for the two sides are trying to work out a solution and have agreed to delay a hearing until June.
The ordeal has left the family in limbo. Children are sharing the two bedrooms. The living room couches convert into beds at night.
Mendoza said eventually, they want a safe, bigger apartment to fit all of the children. “I don’t feel like I’ve done anything wrong,” Mendoza said. “I just want everything to be OK. I just want the kids to have their own rooms.”