By MANUEL ORTIZ ESCÁMEZ / Ethnic Media Services
REDWOOD CITY, CA - Isabel Perez and her husband lost the two jobs they each had in San Francisco restaurants due to the Covid-19 pandemic. They owe three months' rent and, if the moratorium on evictions ending Aug. 30 in Saint Matthew doesn't spread, they'll be out on the street with their ten-year-old son.
About 6,900 people in the wealthy settlement of San Francisco Peninsula are in danger of losing their homes at the end of this month. On August 21, approximately 100 people, including tenants and activists, demonstrated in the yard of the San Mateo County Center in Redwood City to ask the San Mateo County an extension of the moratorium on evictions.
Nazanin Salehi, attorney for the Community Legal Services Housing Program in East Palo Alto said that people of color face disproportionate eviction in San Mateo County. More than 4,100 households with children are being evicted, he said, adding that children will also lose their schools once they are evicted because San Mateo County schools are primarily dedicated to distance learning during the pandemic.
The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the county is $2,700. "People are faced with a $10,000 to $20,000 debt in rent," he said.
Salehi and local housing justice activists are advocating for a model in which San Mateo County pays up to 75 percent of the tenant's debt directly to the landlord, to prevent eviction. On August 4, at their last official meeting, San Mateo County supervisors denied an extension of the current moratorium on evictions that began on March 25 and ends on August 30 of this year.
"Our supervisors have decided that it is more important for homeowners to continue to earn money and evict workers from their homes than for families to remain in safe homes," said Jason Tarricone, director of the housing program at East Palo Alto Community Legal Services, one of the protest organizers.
Across the state of California, approximately 4 million people could be at risk of losing their homes on September 2, when a state moratorium, issued by the California Judicial Council on April 6th. The Judicial Council declared earlier this month that it will not extend the moratorium, and expects the state Legislature to take action.
But the time for action is short: the Legislature adjourns on Aug. 31.
The law AB 1436which has made its way into the State Assembly, would offer an eviction subsidy to tenants in the state. Under the bill's provisions, landlords can use various methods to extract rent owed to their tenants, but cannot evict them.
AB 1436 encourages landlords and tenants to develop a system for late rent, without late fees. It also mandates the elimination of negative consequences, such as an eviction notice appearing on a tenant's credit report.
Nisha Vyas, senior attorney at the Western Center on Law and PovertyThe governor said it is crucial that the state Legislature pass the bill before the session ends Aug. 31. "The housing crisis in California was ongoing long before the pandemic.
"We are facing a momentous social change. We have to stop this now," he said.
Jennifer Kwart, communications director for Assemblyman David Chiu, the lead sponsor of AB 1436, said the bill is stuck in the Senate Rules CommitteeA space in which tenants' and owners' supporters can express their points of view for a better version of the project.
"The owners are vehemently opposed to the bill. Tenants would like it to go further," Kwart said, expressing optimism that a version of the bill will pass before the Legislature adjourns.
It's pretty clear something has to be done. We told people to stay home, and we told businesses to close. Millions of people lost their jobs and can't pay their rent, not because of you.
"The consequence of evicting so many people will have a profound impact," Kwart said, citing an alarming increase in the number of homeless, the increased spread of COVID, and an overall decline in California's economy.
"This could be catastrophic for our state," he added.
"What we are experiencing is serious, very unfair and worrisome," said Adriana Guzman, a San Mateo County activist, in an interview with EMS.
According to Guzman, the refusal of supervisors to extend the moratorium is causing some landlords to put pressure on tenants. "Yesterday I received a call from an elderly woman who was desperate because her landlord was harassing her so much that he told her to pay her now or leave, but the landlord is acting inappropriately because the moratorium is still in place.
Guzman says that while he was on the phone with the woman who had been harassed by her landlord, she felt the high level of stress she was feeling, and her husband had to take her to the emergency doctor.
"Many people like this family are going through unnecessary stress. Those most affected by the upcoming eviction crisis are the elderly and children, as they are the most vulnerable. That's why we are asking supervisors to consider that supporting families is in the best interest of the entire county.
"Supervisors have the power to stop these evictions and save people's homes," said Gabriel Manrique, a member of El Comité and Luna. "They must extend the moratorium until the end of the state of emergency, approve a policy to make tenant debt during the COVID-19 pandemic non-evictionable, and allocate more funds to rental assistance for tenants and mortgage subsidy for small property owners.
With additional report from Sunita Sohrabji/EMS Contributing Editor
