1 20-0316 Subject: Eviction Moratorium Emergency Ordinance
From: Councilmember Bas, President Pro Tempore Kalb, And City Attorney Parker
Recommendation: Adopt An Emergency Ordinance (1) Imposing A Moratorium On Residential Evictions, Rent Increase, And Late Fees During The Local Emergency Proclaimed In Response To The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic; (2) Prohibiting Residential And Commercial Evictions Based On Nonpayment Of Rent That Became Due During The Local Emergency When Tenant Suffered A Substantial Loss Of Income Due To COVID-19; (3) Prohibiting Residential Evictions For Non-Payment Of Rent When The Landlord Impeded The Payment Of Rent; And (4) Calling On State And Federal Legislators And On Financial Institutions To Provide Relief To Low-income Homeowners And Landlords
Even in normal times, I would like to see us do more to protect our renters. But in these extraordinary times, when the government is asking businesses to temporarily close their doors for the protection of public health, it is our responsibility to minimize the already devastating impact of that lost work -- particularly since we expect and hope that this business closure and work slowdown will be a temporary situation that recovers relatively quickly.
As Oakland homeowner but previous long-time renter I strongly support this ordinance to provide a moratorium on residential evictions and rent increases. Public health is the number one priority at this time and we need to prioritize the ability of all residents to stay in their homes. Cashflow issues for landlords can be addressed through state and federal legislation and by their lenders.
Since my partner lost his job, I have been worrying about our ability to pay rent. In these times more than ever, housing IS healthcare. Not passing an eviction moratorium would mean more people out on the streets and consequently more infections overwhelming our healthcare system even more. This legislation is a good first step. I urge you to pass it on Friday.
As a healthcare provider, I have been interacting with patients daily discussing the effects COVID 19 has had on their income and support networks. People are making difficult decisions daily about whether to risk infection or lose their paycheck and potentially their home. If we want to decrease transmission, people need financial support. Housing should be a right, not a privilege that only those with the luxury to work from home can afford. Renters, especially people of color, were already being priced out of their homes and community here in Oakland. With Black and Latin Americans less likely to be able to work from home, COVID will exacerbate housing inequalities in Oakland unless we protect renters NOW!
I am writing to you as a concerned resident in Oakland. I'm urging you to please support the tenant eviction moratorium. It is essential that in the face of a public health crisis we create protections that allow myself and my community members to stay in our home. I hope to see your leadership on these issues.
This is a key preventative measure not only for this moment, but in the long term as well. Less people on the streets leads to taxpayer dollar savings and safer neighborhoods for all of us. It’s important to keep our community sheltered and safe. Thank you for taking the time to read my comment and I hope you take it into consideration when voting tomorrow/today(?).
My partner lost her job and income due to the shelter-in-place order. Without her income, we won't be able to make rent. We've lived in our apartment for ten years and have rent control - that means our rent is currently well below market rate. If we're evicted, we won't just lose our home - we'll be forced to move out of the area, because we can no longer afford housing costs here.
If we're forced to move out of Oakland, that means that I will also lose my job, and my health insurance - something that, as a Type 1 Diabetic, I will literally die without.
Please pass this moratorium. It's not just housing that's at stake here - the ripple effects are immense.
As a recent homeowner in Oakland (who previously has been a tenant for 5 years), it's critical to support our community members most vulnerable to housing insecurity during this pandemic. Oakland is the only major city in CA without a moratorium. Please do the right thing for ALL of us and vote yes immediately without amendments.
No one should be evicted during or due to a pandemic. How we come together now will determine the future of Oakland well beyond Covid 19. City Council must pass this ordinance without delays or weakening amendments and use their power to advocate for decisive action on the state and federal level to relieve rent and mortgage debt. So many Oakland tenants were already struggling before this hit. My household was relatively secure, but now two of my roommates are out of work and unable to pay rent. We need protection now!
I am fortunate to have savings and so will be paying my rent on April 1st. Many are not as fortunate. We are in a public health crisis! It saddens me that this ordinance should even be necessary. Every landlord should want people to stay housed to reduce the spread of the virus. While there will be some who will do the right thing we know we can't count on everyone doing that. This ordinance is one tool the City can use towards the goal of reducing the spread of the virus. Please pass this without amendments that weaken it.
Thank you for bringing forward this emergency ordinance. The current health emergency is casting in stark relief the fundamental reality that we are all interconnected and interdependent, and that, as Congressman Paul Wellstone used to say, "We all do better when we all do better." That is why good governance must always prioritize the needs of the people who are the most impacted and most vulnerable--poor people, Black people and other people of color, people with mental, intellectual, and physical disabilities, and unhoused people. Please do the right thing for ALL our well-being and make sure that more people are not cast out into the streets during this precarious time. Thank you.
Due to COVID-19 many Oakland residents, sheltered and unsheltered, have experienced a significant decrease in wages, or have lost their employment entirely, and are now facing homelessness - further exasperating our city and state's housing and homelessness crises.
We need an urgent order to keep Oakland residents in their homes, in addition to protecting our unsheltered residents across the city. Residents need housing protection to complement the statewide Shelter In Place order that aims to keep Californians safer from the health risks of COVID-19.
We, the tenants and unsheltered residents need your affirmative vote to preserve or obtain our housing to comply with the statewide Shelter in Place order and flatten the curve of COVID-19's rapid spread. We need #Shelter2ShelterInPlace, NOW. We implore you to pass this moratorium today so that Oakland's homelessness crisis isn't further multiplied come April 1st, 2020.
I've been an independent freelancer who has been working in film/photo production in Oakland since 2008. Despite the recession of last decade, I have always managed to pay my bills and have built a successful business over the years. I have seen my entire industry disappear overnight - my once full calendar of bookings is now completely empty and I am facing the prospect of not having any work or income indefinitely. My clients will not resume productions until the governor's order to close non-essential business is lifted. No worker, or small business, can survive paying rent with no income. For those like myself, who are self employed, we may qualify for future relief & rental payment forgiveness under the coming federal Paycheck Protection Program. But applying for SBA loans & relief will take time, and my rent is due on the 1st no matter how much future help may be on the horizon. The city must take immediate action to give workers & businesses more time to navigate this crisis.
As the owner of a single condominium unit in Oakland, I strongly support this ordinance. Many renters provide much-needed services that benefit the larger Oakland population. Even without an altruistic approach, it is in the interests of landlords to accommodate tenants, who are financially impacted by this crisis. I certainly would prefer a long-term, reliable tenant over the hassle of getting a new tenant for a few extra dollars.
My name is Jacklyn Tran. I am a homeowner/property owner in District 3 of Oakland. Our neighbors cannot property shelter in place if they don't have a shelter. I urge the City Council to pass an immediate moratorium on evictions. Evictions lead to homelessness and housing overcrowding that could further spread COVID 19 and puts all of our public health at risk. Local and state governments are working with banks to delay mortgages for property owners, so rents and evictions must also be addressed. We must keep everyone safe in this crisis. Please record my SUPPORT for a moratorium.
I support this bill & even stronger tenant protections in the coming weeks. The city should apply for federal emergency funds and redirect other funding to protect tenants from both eviction and a mounting back-rent debt.
As so many before me on this comment thread have said, this is NOT a time when finding new housing would be easy or wise. In addition, people meeting with new potential housemates, moving in with more financially stable, but more at-risk older relatives, or filling up homeless encampments are all a severe danger to general public health in this unique moment, not to mention to the health of the individuals affected.
Please pass this moratorium and discuss concrete follow-up plans for strengthening protections of renters (and perhaps even bailing out poorer landlords) through the inevitably long-running crisis that we find ourselves in.
Please remember that even with the suspension of mortgage payments landlords will still have to pay property taxes, business taxes, utility bills, maintenance costs. If no one pays rent how will they do that?
Local, state, and federal employees (including retired employees) are insulated from financial impacts of these decisions. The private sector, in this case landlords who provide housing will have to carry the financial burden.
A good percentage of landlords rely on rental income to survive. An emergency ordinance suspending rent will create great hardship and possible bankruptcy, resulting in landlords who invested their savings and time providing a place to live for their tenants to walk away from their buildings.
I support no evictions, no late fees and no rent hikes during this crisis.
I support a temporary section 8 type system where government authorizes the payment of rental housing assistance to the unemployed.
Even in normal times, I would like to see us do more to protect our renters. But in these extraordinary times, when the government is asking businesses to temporarily close their doors for the protection of public health, it is our responsibility to minimize the already devastating impact of that lost work -- particularly since we expect and hope that this business closure and work slowdown will be a temporary situation that recovers relatively quickly.
As Oakland homeowner but previous long-time renter I strongly support this ordinance to provide a moratorium on residential evictions and rent increases. Public health is the number one priority at this time and we need to prioritize the ability of all residents to stay in their homes. Cashflow issues for landlords can be addressed through state and federal legislation and by their lenders.
Since my partner lost his job, I have been worrying about our ability to pay rent. In these times more than ever, housing IS healthcare. Not passing an eviction moratorium would mean more people out on the streets and consequently more infections overwhelming our healthcare system even more. This legislation is a good first step. I urge you to pass it on Friday.
Rent freeze!
As a healthcare provider, I have been interacting with patients daily discussing the effects COVID 19 has had on their income and support networks. People are making difficult decisions daily about whether to risk infection or lose their paycheck and potentially their home. If we want to decrease transmission, people need financial support. Housing should be a right, not a privilege that only those with the luxury to work from home can afford. Renters, especially people of color, were already being priced out of their homes and community here in Oakland. With Black and Latin Americans less likely to be able to work from home, COVID will exacerbate housing inequalities in Oakland unless we protect renters NOW!
I am writing to you as a concerned resident in Oakland. I'm urging you to please support the tenant eviction moratorium. It is essential that in the face of a public health crisis we create protections that allow myself and my community members to stay in our home. I hope to see your leadership on these issues.
We need a moratorium now! My family and community would be deeply impacted if this moratorium did not pass.
This is a key preventative measure not only for this moment, but in the long term as well. Less people on the streets leads to taxpayer dollar savings and safer neighborhoods for all of us. It’s important to keep our community sheltered and safe. Thank you for taking the time to read my comment and I hope you take it into consideration when voting tomorrow/today(?).
My partner lost her job and income due to the shelter-in-place order. Without her income, we won't be able to make rent. We've lived in our apartment for ten years and have rent control - that means our rent is currently well below market rate. If we're evicted, we won't just lose our home - we'll be forced to move out of the area, because we can no longer afford housing costs here.
If we're forced to move out of Oakland, that means that I will also lose my job, and my health insurance - something that, as a Type 1 Diabetic, I will literally die without.
Please pass this moratorium. It's not just housing that's at stake here - the ripple effects are immense.
As a recent homeowner in Oakland (who previously has been a tenant for 5 years), it's critical to support our community members most vulnerable to housing insecurity during this pandemic. Oakland is the only major city in CA without a moratorium. Please do the right thing for ALL of us and vote yes immediately without amendments.
No one should be evicted during or due to a pandemic. How we come together now will determine the future of Oakland well beyond Covid 19. City Council must pass this ordinance without delays or weakening amendments and use their power to advocate for decisive action on the state and federal level to relieve rent and mortgage debt. So many Oakland tenants were already struggling before this hit. My household was relatively secure, but now two of my roommates are out of work and unable to pay rent. We need protection now!
I am fortunate to have savings and so will be paying my rent on April 1st. Many are not as fortunate. We are in a public health crisis! It saddens me that this ordinance should even be necessary. Every landlord should want people to stay housed to reduce the spread of the virus. While there will be some who will do the right thing we know we can't count on everyone doing that. This ordinance is one tool the City can use towards the goal of reducing the spread of the virus. Please pass this without amendments that weaken it.
Thank you for bringing forward this emergency ordinance. The current health emergency is casting in stark relief the fundamental reality that we are all interconnected and interdependent, and that, as Congressman Paul Wellstone used to say, "We all do better when we all do better." That is why good governance must always prioritize the needs of the people who are the most impacted and most vulnerable--poor people, Black people and other people of color, people with mental, intellectual, and physical disabilities, and unhoused people. Please do the right thing for ALL our well-being and make sure that more people are not cast out into the streets during this precarious time. Thank you.
Due to COVID-19 many Oakland residents, sheltered and unsheltered, have experienced a significant decrease in wages, or have lost their employment entirely, and are now facing homelessness - further exasperating our city and state's housing and homelessness crises.
We need an urgent order to keep Oakland residents in their homes, in addition to protecting our unsheltered residents across the city. Residents need housing protection to complement the statewide Shelter In Place order that aims to keep Californians safer from the health risks of COVID-19.
We, the tenants and unsheltered residents need your affirmative vote to preserve or obtain our housing to comply with the statewide Shelter in Place order and flatten the curve of COVID-19's rapid spread. We need #Shelter2ShelterInPlace, NOW. We implore you to pass this moratorium today so that Oakland's homelessness crisis isn't further multiplied come April 1st, 2020.
I've been an independent freelancer who has been working in film/photo production in Oakland since 2008. Despite the recession of last decade, I have always managed to pay my bills and have built a successful business over the years. I have seen my entire industry disappear overnight - my once full calendar of bookings is now completely empty and I am facing the prospect of not having any work or income indefinitely. My clients will not resume productions until the governor's order to close non-essential business is lifted. No worker, or small business, can survive paying rent with no income. For those like myself, who are self employed, we may qualify for future relief & rental payment forgiveness under the coming federal Paycheck Protection Program. But applying for SBA loans & relief will take time, and my rent is due on the 1st no matter how much future help may be on the horizon. The city must take immediate action to give workers & businesses more time to navigate this crisis.
I support the Eviction Moratorium! Let’s keep people safe and in their homes during this crisis!
As the owner of a single condominium unit in Oakland, I strongly support this ordinance. Many renters provide much-needed services that benefit the larger Oakland population. Even without an altruistic approach, it is in the interests of landlords to accommodate tenants, who are financially impacted by this crisis. I certainly would prefer a long-term, reliable tenant over the hassle of getting a new tenant for a few extra dollars.
My name is Jacklyn Tran. I am a homeowner/property owner in District 3 of Oakland. Our neighbors cannot property shelter in place if they don't have a shelter. I urge the City Council to pass an immediate moratorium on evictions. Evictions lead to homelessness and housing overcrowding that could further spread COVID 19 and puts all of our public health at risk. Local and state governments are working with banks to delay mortgages for property owners, so rents and evictions must also be addressed. We must keep everyone safe in this crisis. Please record my SUPPORT for a moratorium.
I support this bill & even stronger tenant protections in the coming weeks. The city should apply for federal emergency funds and redirect other funding to protect tenants from both eviction and a mounting back-rent debt.
As so many before me on this comment thread have said, this is NOT a time when finding new housing would be easy or wise. In addition, people meeting with new potential housemates, moving in with more financially stable, but more at-risk older relatives, or filling up homeless encampments are all a severe danger to general public health in this unique moment, not to mention to the health of the individuals affected.
Please pass this moratorium and discuss concrete follow-up plans for strengthening protections of renters (and perhaps even bailing out poorer landlords) through the inevitably long-running crisis that we find ourselves in.
Please remember that even with the suspension of mortgage payments landlords will still have to pay property taxes, business taxes, utility bills, maintenance costs. If no one pays rent how will they do that?
Local, state, and federal employees (including retired employees) are insulated from financial impacts of these decisions. The private sector, in this case landlords who provide housing will have to carry the financial burden.
A good percentage of landlords rely on rental income to survive. An emergency ordinance suspending rent will create great hardship and possible bankruptcy, resulting in landlords who invested their savings and time providing a place to live for their tenants to walk away from their buildings.
I support no evictions, no late fees and no rent hikes during this crisis.
I support a temporary section 8 type system where government authorizes the payment of rental housing assistance to the unemployed.