Marin landlords soon will be barred from evicting tenants who can’t pay their rent because of the pandemic.

Marin County supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to enact the moratorium, which takes effect Feb. 1 and lasts through June 30.

“We have to do this to keep people housed in Marin,” said Supervisor Dennis Rodoni, the board president. “We don’t have a choice.”

The resolution prohibits landlords from attempting to evict a residential tenant if the tenant has provided a declaration of coronavirus-related financial distress within 15 days of receiving notice demanding payment of rent.

The tenants, however, will still owe the unpaid rent and can be sued for the money. Tenants who notify their landlords as specified will have up to 90 days after June 30 to pay the overdue rent before they will be deemed to be in default.

Unlike most other county resolutions, this action will also apply to renters in all of Marin’s 11 municipalities as well as the unincorporated area of Marin governed by the supervisors.

The action was supported by the Marin County public health officer, Dr. Matt Willis.

In a statement, Willis wrote that “renters who have lost income due to COVID-19 may be at risk of homelessness if they are evicted for nonpayment of rent.”

Willis added, “Such displacement, destabilization and any increase in homelessness would increase the risk of transmission of COVID-19 throughout the county.”

A state law signed on Sept. 1 protects residential renters from eviction through Jan. 31. The law, Assembly Bill 3088 — the COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act of 2020 — prohibits landlords from evicting tenants for unpaid rent accrued between March 1 and Aug. 31, 2020. Any unpaid rent during that time period is to be converted to consumer debt, which landlords may seek to recover through small claims court.

The law also prohibits evictions for rental debt accrued between Sept. 1 and Jan. 31, if the tenant pays 25% by the end of January.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that he will propose extending the state’s eviction moratorium before it expires.

“If and when that occurs, we would anticipate coming back and evaluating where things are at and what gaps need to be filled,” Supervisor Damon Connolly said Tuesday.

Marin County Counsel Brian Washington said it is uncertain whether a state action would preempt local actions.

The state’s ban on evictions superseded a moratorium that Marin County put into effect on March 24. The county’s moratorium was due to expire Sept. 30.

In addition to enacting bans on evictions, county supervisors, in tandem with the Marin Community Foundation, have allocated some $5.8 million to provide emergency financial assistance to renters who are in arrears because of the pandemic.

Marin County expects to receive an additional $7.7 million from the federal government that it can use for rental assistance during 2021 because of the Bipartisan Emergency COVID Relief Act of 2020 approved by Congress last month.

In a staff report, Leelee Thomas, a county planning manager, wrote that the county has approximately 1,500 open inquiries for rental assistance “with about 1,000 new calls that have been added since Dec. 17.”

In her report, Thomas wrote that the eviction moratorium was one of the actions urged by the Canal Policy Working Group. The group, which consists of local elected officials and staff from the city of San Rafael and the county, was formed to address the disproportionate impact that the pandemic has had on low-income Latino communities in Marin.

Thomas wrote that other policies under consideration by the group include a temporary rent freeze or cap, as well as other temporary expansions of protections provided under the eviction moratorium. Thomas, however, made it clear that Marin’s cities and towns had not given the green light for these additional measures.

Ron Brown of San Rafael, a member of Kol Shofar and the Marin Organizing Committee, asked supervisors Tuesday for two additional actions.

“First, expand the moratorium to include all evictions except for cases of health or safety,” he said. “Second, prohibit rent increases for the remainder of the pandemic.”

A number of public speakers during the meeting recounted personal difficulties that would not be addressed by the eviction moratorium.

Melissa Parhm of Mill Valley said the owner of her condo is evicting her so he can move into the unit. Parhm, who has three young children, said she lost her job because of the pandemic and has been unable to find a new place.

“I feel it is cruel, especially during a pandemic, to do this to children,” she said.

Several speakers said they live at Ridgeway Apartments in Marin City, where the owner of the building, St. Anton Capital, is raising rents. Thomas said the complex is exempt from tenant protection policies limiting rent increases because the apartments are deed-restricted to house low-income residents.

The problem is that the amount of rent St. Anton can charge is based on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s calculation of median income for Marin County, which increased more than 15% in 2019 and nearly 5% in 2020. Representatives with St. Anton could not be reached for comment.

No property owners or their representatives spoke during Tuesday’s meeting. In an email, Alex Khalfin, a spokesman for the California Apartment Association, urged the supervisors not to adopt the resolution.

“Having multiple local and state policies guiding evictions during a pandemic can create confusion for both tenants and landlords,” Khalfin wrote in an email, “and will make it challenging for courts to implement and reconcile the differences.”

Source: https://www.marinij.com/2021/01/13/marin-supervisors-approve-5-month-eviction-ban