The city of San Diego is moving forward with a new moratorium on no-fault evictions until Sept. 30, or 60 days after the end of the local pandemic state of emergency, whichever comes first.
San Diego City Council members voted 5-1 in favor of the moratorium. Councilmember Chris Cate voted no, while Joe LaCava and Raul Campillo recused themselves from voting because they are landlords or have family members who are landlords.
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“The passage of this moratorium means that every renter in San Diego will have a bit more security in this far too expensive city and fewer people will be at risk of experiencing homelessness," said Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, whose office drafted the ordinance.
As their name suggests, no-fault evictions happen when tenants are paying rent and obeying the lease, but are nonetheless evicted because the landlord wants to leave the rental market, move into the property or substantially remodel.
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Tenants in San Diego who aren’t paying rent due to the COVID-19 pandemic and have proof they’ve applied for rental relief remain covered under statewide eviction protections. The city’s moratorium further protects tenants by making it impossible for landlords to evict tenants in order to substantially remodel a property, which advocates say has been a loophole in pandemic protections.
“It’s a misnomer that the eviction moratorium that we’ve had throughout the pandemic that tenants cannot be evicted, but it is not true, not for no-fault evictions,” said Gil Vera, senior housing attorney at Legal Aid.
According to the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, no-fault evictions make up the largest share of all 1,400 calls they’ve received asking for help on housing issues.
The moratorium is a victory for Lydia Morales, a banquet worker from San Ysidro who received a no-fault eviction in 2013 after paying religiously. She says the memory of being evicted after doing everything right and not knowing where she could go still haunts her to this day.
“The law doesn’t protect us and there should be more protection for renters,” Morales said in Spanish.
For many of the region's landlords, however, the “no fault” eviction moratorium is a step in the wrong direction. Several landlords and representatives from professional groups, including the California Apartment Association and the Southern California Rental Housing Association, voiced opposition to the moratorium during the council meeting.
“Solving this issue is not just a matter of making it more difficult for property owners to evict tenants and it's not just about protections for tenants. We have to address the affordability issue because absent of doing that we're not really solving the root cause of a lot of the problems that we see.”Sean Elo-Rivera, San Diego City Council President
“It's a solution looking for a problem,” said Lucinda Lilley, president of the Southern California Rental Housing Association. “I am concerned about how rapidly this was laid out while everyone was in recess and with no collaboration whatsoever from the entire rental housing ecosystem.”
Lilley says she is in favor of other measures including continuing a form of rental assistance or security deposit assistance to help struggling tenants.
There are some exceptions to the city’s "no fault" eviction moratorium. Landlords must still maintain dwelling up to code and they are still able to move back into their unit or take the rental property off the rental market. However, they must provide tenants with ample warning.
Under the moratorium, if a landlord or their family member wants to move back into their unit, they must provide the tenant with 90 days notice. Alternatively, if the landlord plans to leave the rental market they must provide the tenant with six months notice.
Elo-Rivera has repeatedly said this temporary moratorium is just a band aid to keep people housed right now during the ongoing pandemic and rising cost of living. He says longer term solutions are needed.
“Solving this issue is not just a matter of making it more difficult for property owners to evict tenants and it's not just about protections for tenants,” Elo-Rivera said. “We have to address the affordability issue because absent of doing that we're not really solving the root cause of a lot of the problems that we see.”
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On Monday the San Diego City Council voted to advance a “no fault” eviction moratorium. -
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