County allows eviction moratorium through April
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday evening declined to hold a much-anticipated review of the county's ongoing eviction moratorium — a move that all but guarantees the pandemic tenant protections, among the last anywhere in the Bay Area, will remain in place until the end of April.
With dozens of landlords and tenant advocates in attendance at the public hearing in Oakland, supervisors explained that regardless of whether there were enough votes to sunset the moratorium, the soonest the ban could stop taking effect was just a few days before it's already set to lapse April 29.
Supervisors said that meant there was little point in discussing it Tuesday.
During the meeting, board members also refused to approve three tenant protection ordinances supported by local renter advocates. Earlier this year, the proposed regulations had appeared almost certain to pass.
Supervisors said they aimed to balance the concerns of rental owners exasperated by the nearly threeyear eviction ban, and the needs of tenants still reeling from the economic fallout of the pandemic and struggling to afford the region's high housing costs. They promised to seek out additional resources for both struggling renters and landlords.
“We need to focus on the future and what that looks like, instead of continuing to stay in the ring and battling it out on this issue,” said Supervisor Keith Carson.
Ahead of Tuesday's hearing, landlord groups had ramped up pressure on supervisors to lift the eviction moratorium, which prevents most evictions countywide. They contend the ban has long outlived its purpose and is ruining the livelihoods of many momand-pop rental owners.
One landlord, Jingyu Wu, even began a hunger strike Sunday. He has set up a canopy tent outside the county's administration building during daylight hours, holding hand-made signs and calling for an end to the moratorium. He says a tenant in his San Leandro triplex owes over $120,000 in back rent, leaving Wu, in his 50s, teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
“I know the hunger strike is very dangerous to my health,” Wu previously said in an interview. “But I have no choice. I must share my story to the public.” It wasn't immediately clear whether he would continue the protest.
Angel Perez, who owns an apartment complex in Oakland, said two of his tenants have accumulated over $12,000 in rent debt. Emergency rental assistance is no longer available to cover the missed payments. And Perez, 58, is worried about falling behind on his mortgage and property tax payments.
“I have tenants who haven't paid me for over a year,” Perez said outside the board chambers.