Renters, Property Owners Pressure Supervisors on Evictions

Pressure is mounting on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to pass tenant protections for the more than 70,000 renters in the unincorporated communities as the COVID-19 eviction moratorium is expected to lift at the end of this month. 

What's at stake is how to balance the needs of renters as well as independent landlords amidst an affordable housing crisis in and around Ashland, Castlewood, Castro Valley, Cherryland, Fairview, Happy Valley, Hayward Acres, Hillcrest Knolls, San Lorenzo, and Sunol. 

Renters are currently exempt from some evictions if they can show a direct negative impact on their income because of the pandemic. State and local health officials are expected to dismantle the 2-year-old COVID health emergency on February 28. If that happens, the eviction moratorium will conclude 60 days afterward, around April 29. After that time, renters cannot use the pandemic as an excuse not to pay the rent.

At the same time, the Board of Supervisors is considering three tenant protection policies that would establish a registry of rental units, establish just cause protections for evictions, and would restrict the use of background checks for those that have been formerly incarcerated to disqualify them from renting. The ordinances passed an initial vote on December 20. The ordinance requires a second review and approval before becoming law.

Renter advocates say, unlike other cities in the county, renters in the Eden Area have no local tenant protections. Property owners counter by saying that the COVID-era eviction moratorium invites tenants not to pay their rent even if they never suffered a COVID-related hardship.

Tensions flared at the start of last Tuesday's meeting (January 24) as the Board decided to postpone the final decision on the renter policies until Feb. 28. Shortly after that, at 1 p.m., three women representing Moms 4 Housing entered the chamber, linking arms in front of the room. They alternated between chants and statements about their personal experiences with homelessness. The women were arrested and later released.

"We are taking this action because Alameda County is already suffering from an overwhelming homelessness crisis, and if these tenant protections are not put in place before the COVID moratorium is lifted, that crisis is going to get exponentially worse," Moms 4 Housing representative and Berkeley rent board commissioner Dominique Walker said.

 Joshua Howard, the executive vice president of local public affairs with the California Apartment Association, says Alameda County needs housing units to solve the current housing crisis instead of adding more bureaucracy and laws. 

"Rather than focus on building affordable homes and lifting its eviction moratorium, the county is wasting its time developing additional limits on a landlord's ability to protect the rights of their tenants and provide quality housing," Howard said in a statement. The trade group represents apartment community owners, investors, developers, managers, and suppliers.

District 4 Supervisor Nate Miley issued a statement last week saying he believes in protecting tenants' rights and the investments of small mom-and-pop landlords.

"We cannot reach a compromise nor develop meaningful public policy if we are not willing to have these conversations," Miley said. "If we cannot reach a compromise nor develop meaningful public policy, we cannot protect tenants nor small landlords beyond February 28."

District 3 Supervisor Lena Tam said her office had received more than 300 emails from property owners and rental agencies asking the Board of Supervisors to come to a compromise in the future.

"This issue is complex because the state already has many protections in place [such as California's Tenant Protection Act of 2019] that are similar to the ordinances, including a rent registry that requires landlords to report how much they charge for rent and the number of units offered," Tam told the Forum. 

Supervisors Tam and Miley say they have an open discussion scheduled for February 22 at their next Unincorporated Services Meeting. They invite both sides and hope to hear how to move forward.