Tensions between Sonoma County tenants and landlords flare as state looks to extend pandemic rental protections

Despite receiving thousands of dollars in public pandemic rental assistance, Kathryn Shunn still ended up with an eviction notice. Last fall, her landlord gave her family 60 days to move out of their house in Sebastopol after what Shunn describes as a drawn-out dispute over monthly lease payments.

Meanwhile Vernajean Lopez, an 86-year-old at-home caretaker in Wikiup, says sharing her duplex with a live-in renter has become a “nightmare.” Pandemic eviction protections have drawn out the process of removing her tenant, meaning Lopez is unsure when she’ll feel comfortable again in her own home.

Similar tensions between tenants and landlords continue to play out across Sonoma County, touched off by state and local efforts to avert pandemic evictions that, after two years, are set to wind to a close.

“It’s just being so uncertain and having so many things up in the air,” said Shunn. “It was unnerving. It was unsettling.”

Eviction bans, coupled with a $40 million county rental aid program to cover 100% of tenants’ unpaid rent dating to April 2020, appear to have succeeded in keeping many people from losing their homes amid the economic upheaval of the pandemic.

But thousands of struggling tenants and landlords still have yet to see any assistance from the slow-moving program. And with state eviction protections scheduled to end Thursday and county protections set to expire at the end of June, tenant advocates have called on officials to extend the emergency restrictions to stave off an impending “eviction cliff.”

In response to lagging rental aid programs across the state, the California Legislature appears ready to push back the state eviction deadline another three months. The Assembly on Monday approved the proposal on a 60-0 vote. To pass, the bill also needs two-thirds approval by the Senate and a signature from Gov. Gavin Newsom, who appears likely to support it.

Some local landlords, though, confused and frustrated by the changing regulations, say they’re desperate to finally remove tenants who’ve caused them headaches or failed to pay months of back rent.

“When will property owners be allowed to be bound to the leases they agreed to with their tenants?” said Ross Liscum, a Santa Rosa-based realtor representing local landlords.

Over the first two years of the pandemic, evictions in Sonoma County dropped dramatically, according to county court data. In 2019, the year before the pandemic took hold, property owners filed 914 eviction cases. In 2020 and 2021, there were only around a third as many filings each year — 332 and 291 respectively.

While eviction filings don’t capture the full scope of tenants forced out of their homes, Margaret DeMatteo, a housing policy attorney with Legal Aid of Sonoma County, said the drop-off is evidence the pandemic safeguards have been largely effective, despite not protecting all renters.

“That created stability for tenants in a time where moving could be extremely detrimental,” DeMatteo said.

One of the main protections was a statewide eviction moratorium covering tenants who missed payments after taking a financial hit because of the pandemic. The ban technically expired Oct. 1, however tenants are still shielded from a court-ordered eviction as long as they have applied for rental assistance.

Court data show a marked increase in local eviction filings in recent months following the end of the state moratorium, though still far below pre-pandemic levels.

But the protection afforded by applying for aid is set to end Thursday.

And as of last month, about two thirds of the roughly 6,000 low- and middle-income households that applied to the county’s rental aid program were still waiting for assistance, potentially leaving them at risk once the deadline is up. County officials were unable to provide an update on how many households have since been approved for aid.

At the same time, the county program — which advocates and landlords say can be confusing and time-consuming to navigate — stopped accepting new applications altogether on Feb. 11 due to a lack of state and federal funds. Because the county decided to launch its own rental aid effort rather than opt in to a still-open $5.2 billion statewide program, local renters are now stuck submitting applications to a wait list in hopes more money becomes available.

“I imagine we’ll see a big uptick (in evictions) in April,” DeMatteo said, if state lawmakers fail to push back Thursday’s deadline.

The legislation approved by the Assembly on Monday would extend the state eviction restrictions through June 30 for renters who apply for aid by Thursday. The bill would also prevent local jurisdictions from passing new tenant protections until July 1.

Officials are encouraging struggling renters to apply for assistance by the March 31 deadline to stay protected from eviction should the bill pass.

Across Sonoma County, an estimated 8,550 households — many of which were already struggling to afford the region’s escalating housing costs before the pandemic — were saddled with an average of $4,400 in debt for back rent as of last month, according to the National Equity Atlas, a data tool by University of Southern California researchers. That amounts to over $40 million in total rent debt.

An ongoing countywide eviction moratorium, meanwhile, no longer prevents most evictions for nonpayment, according to attorneys for Sonoma County. Instead, it only protects tenants as long as they pay 25% of all rent debt incurred before the expiration of the state eviction ban on Oct. 1 of last year. The deadline for the 25% payment is June 30. The remaining back rent is not forgiven but can be covered by rental aid.

For renters like Shunn in Sebastopol, those protections haven’t been enough. After her catering business stalled with the pandemic, she applied to the county’s rental assistance program to cover over $20,000 in unpaid rent. Even though she received the money, Shunn and her landlord didn’t see eye to eye on the program, and their relationship soured, she said.

In October, Shunn said the landlord served her a 60-day eviction notice so a family member could move into the home, which is allowed despite current pandemic protections.

With the holidays approaching, Shunn scoured Zillow for a new rental. She eventually found a house in Healdsburg, and her family of five made a hasty move, costing them thousands of dollars.

“What’s Christmas when you're packing up your entire world?” Shunn said.

Attempts to reach Shunn’s former landlord were unsuccessful.

Local landlords say they’re increasingly considering taking units off the rental market to get around what they see as excessive pandemic restrictions. Doing so is allowed under the county’s temporary “just cause” eviction ordinance, approved in February of last year. The only other exemptions are for “an imminent threat to health or safety” and nonpayment of rent, though protections for now still apply for those who can’t pay due to COVID-19.

The just cause protections are currently set to expire on June 30. But local advocacy groups including the North Bay Organizing Project are pushing local governments to adopt permanent just cause ordinances with many of the same rules. Advocates argue failing to do so could lead to a flood of evictions and a spike in homelessness, especially among Black and brown communities that have been disproportionately hit by the pandemic.

For Lopez, the 86-year-old landlord in Wikiup, the restrictions mean she has to bear the brunt of resolving a messy situation with her tenant, who moved in last July. On the advice of her attorney, she’s decided to remove the property from the rental market to go through with an eviction, which could cost her $4,000 in legal expenses, she said.

Attempts to reach the tenant were unsuccessful.

The money aside, no longer renting out her home is in many ways a difficult choice for Lopez. She’s long taken in foster children and others in need.

“I’ve done this for so many years, and I’ve been very lucky, but I just happened to hit the wrong (circumstance),” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Ethan Varian at ethan.varian@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5412. On Twitter @ethanvarian.