Los Angeles County tenants have at least an extra month of protection from evictions if they can’t pay rent.
The county’s Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to extend its ban on evictions from the end of January to Feb. 28, and to add more protections from landlord harassment and intimidation, as the coronavirus pandemic continues raging — causing widespread financial hardship.
The moratorium on evictions due to nonpayment, which has been in effect since March and was initially set to expire Jan. 31, has been “one among many of the saving graces for people who were really rapidly running out of any resources” when the coronavirus pandemic first hit, Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, one of the authors of the item, said during the board’s Tuesday meeting.
And the need for continued protections that allow people to stay in their homes, she added, is still clear nearly a year later.
“Seeing 5,000 people line up for food on a weekend,” Kuehl said, “we know how hard-hit people are.”
But some renters, landlords and advocates for both sides said during public comment that extending the ban — which delays evictions but still requires tenants to eventually pay back the rent they’ve accumulated — isn’t sufficient to address the crisis.
“At some point, the bills for unpaid rent will come due, and low-income tenants who are already severely rent-burdened and still without steady income will not be able to pay it back,” local activist Gina Viola said. “They will end up homeless or stuck in a cycle of debt for years.
“Canceling rent with targeted landlord relief,” she added, “is the only scaled solution that will reach the most vulnerable.”
Landlords, though, had their own concerns, such as some tenants not paying rent even when they have the means to do so, causing financial pain for property owners — particularly small landlords.
“I understand tenants’ problems,” said Patricia Russell, who rented out part of her home early in the pandemic to help pay her mortgage, “but we small landlords have problems, too.”
The item the board passed on Tuesday did expand upon the previous eviction ban in some ways. Under the extended moratorium, for example, landlords can’t kick out tenants who reasonably deny entry to their homes. It also protects tenants in cases where an unlawful detainer has been filed but not adjudicated.
But the board did not implement any new proposals that would address either Viola’s or Russell’s concerns.
It did, however, direct county officials to create a group of “diverse stakeholders,” comprising landlords, tenants and the advocates of both sides, that will meet monthly to discuss the eviction moratorium and propose policy options to strengthen it.
Protections for tenants and landlords, though, don’t just fall to LA County. A statewide eviction moratorium is also set to expire Jan. 31, and state legislators are scrambling to prolong it. Senate Bill 3, for example, would extend California’s ban through March 31, while Assembly Bill 15 would extend it through the end of the year.
And yet another proposal, Assembly Bill 16, which was written as a companion to AB 15, would create a framework to disburse future funding from the state or federal government to renters and landlords — as a way to help relieve the financial burdens the coronavirus pandemic has caused.
Those bills are still working their way through Sacramento’s legislative process. So county officials decided on Tuesday to step forward. And, since the extension only lasts until the end of February, it’s likely an issue the board will continue to revisit.
“I want to commend this board for taking bold steps to keep people housed, and we certainly cannot stop now,” Supervisor Holly Mitchell said. “We really have to figure out how to create protections and support to both tenants who are at risk and to mom-and-pop homeowners who are at risk, too.”
