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San Pablo City Council to vote on ordinance aimed at halting no-fault evictions

An eviction notice in San Francisco
Robby Virus
/
Flickr / Creative Commons
An eviction notice in San Francisco

The State of California and Contra Costa County eviction protections expired in October, as COVID-19 numbers went down and more people were able to get back to work. But the omicron variant has changed things.

According to a staff report of the San Pablo City Council for tonight's meeting, state law prohibits municipalities from passing new eviction protections relating to unpaid rent due between March 1, 2020, through March 31, 2022. But it doesn't prohibit new just cause protections related to unpaid rent.

The reports says, in part, QUOTE: "Increased non-payment protections and decreased no-fault eviction protections, coupled with delays in distributing rent relief, have incentivized landlords to commence 'no-fault' evictions to circumvent the strong state protections on non-payment of rent," UNQUOTE.

The delays in rent relief have been especially harmful for residents of San Pablo, of whom approximately 20 percent were below the poverty line before the pandemic.

The report adds that San Pablo was already experiencing a housing affordability crisis, which has increased homelessness and displacement of residents.

The report also points out African-American and Latino residents have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic and have been infected at higher rates than other groups.

Sunni M. Khalid is a veteran of more than 40 years in journalism, having worked in print, radio, television, and web journalism.