OAKLAND — Some renters struggling to make ends meet amid the coronavirus pandemic got some good news Tuesday, when Alameda County supervisors extended a moratorium on evictions.
The moratorium now runs until Sept. 30. It is intended to protect people from ending up on the street because of the pandemic.
“So many people have lost jobs,” Supervisor Wilma Chan said during an interview Wednesday. “We don’t want to have a situation where we are creating more homeless.”
The board’s action places a moratorium on evictions from residential units in both unincorporated and incorporated areas of the county for people who are unable to pay rent because of a loss of income, substantial out-of-pocket medical expense or extraordinary child care needs related to the pandemic, according to the resolution that supervisors adopted.
Supervisors initially passed an urgency ordinance on March 24 that immediately put a temporary moratorium on evictions because of the health crisis.
The temporary moratorium bans not only no-cause evictions, but also most just-cause evictions, where landlords could evict a renter for things such as non-payment or violating terms of the lease.
However, landlords still can evict people in some circumstances under the moratorium, such as for health and safety reasons, which can include criminal behavior, as well as if a landlord is going out of the rental business and plans to take the unit off the market.
The adoption of the March urgency ordinance put a moratorium on evictions of tenants, homeowners and mobile homeowners who are facing displacement because of medical issues or a substantial loss of income as a result of the coronavirus.
It was in response to the state declaring a public health emergency, as well as Alameda County’s declaration of an emergency on March 10.
While tenants facing eviction will receive a temporary reprieve, they are still obligated to pay their rent.
Tenants will have 12 months to repay overdue rent, unless the tenant and landlord can come to a mutual repayment agreement.
On Tuesday, the Hayward City Council also extended an emergency moratorium on residential and commercial evictions for failure to pay rent or to make mortgage payments because of COVID-19 hardship.
The moratorium, like the county’s, was extended through Sept. 30.
Initially adopted on March 24 and expanded on April 7 to cover commercial tenants and homeowners with foreclosed mortgage loans, the moratorium is intended to allow all Hayward residents time to continue to safely shelter-in-place during the health emergency and help sustain local businesses during the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Nothing in Hayward’s eviction moratorium ordinance relieves residential and commercial tenants or homeowners of their liability for unpaid rent or mortgage payments.
Instead, under the extension approved by the council Tuesday, the ordinance provides a 180-day repayment period for tenants to secure stable employment and income, and to enter into repayment agreements with their landlords.
