Close to Home: Sonoma County needs protection for tenants

Despite the continuing public health emergency, California courts have resumed most eviction cases. From April 6 through Sept. 1, a state Judicial Council emergency rule suspended evictions across the state, except those necessary to protect public health and safety. This emergency protection was critical in preventing unnecessary evictions and protecting public health.

Since the order expired, Legal Aid of Sonoma County has been representing a growing number of tenants faced with eviction, tenants like David Kiddoo and Louise of Santa Rosa, as The Press Democrat reported recently.

Removing someone from their home makes it exceedingly difficult for them to shelter in place or comply with social distancing precautions for obvious reasons. All evictions undermine the fight against COVID-19 because evictions lead to homelessness; doubling up in units’ causing overcrowding; and more people living in congregant settings – putting individuals at higher risk of contracting and spreading the virus. While this public health crisis disproportionately impacts Black, Latino and immigrant residents in our community, make no mistake that unnecessary evictions threaten the public health of all Sonoma County residents.

As with rates of cases per capita, eviction rates can be higher in rural areas, even though the total number of evictions are lower. Much of Sonoma County is agricultural, and we remain the last Bay Area county in the most restrictive purple tier of California’s reopening system. This is why Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s health officer, has emphasized the need for strong eviction protections to curb the spread of COVID-19. Sonoma County must take action to mitigate this growing risk and help keep vulnerable tenants housed during the pandemic.

Legal Aid of Sonoma County and a broad coalition of housing, tenant and public health organizations are advocating for the Board of Supervisors to enact a local just cause for eviction ordinance that would prohibit evictions except where necessary to protect public health and safety for the duration of the pandemic.

Just cause ordinances require a landlord to prove there is a legally recognized reason for evicting a tenant. Failure to enact such a local ordinance would promote the spread of COVID-19 and exacerbate the economic and social harm that it is causing in our community.

California’s Tenant Relief Act of 2020 protects impacted tenants who cannot pay rent due to COVID-19 and temporarily extends state just cause protections to all tenancies. But there are still 16 legally recognized “just cause” reasons under state law, reasons that are clearly inappropriate under current local public health conditions and guidance. The Tenant Relief Act doesn’t replace the protections of the Judicial Council’s emergency order, and it doesn’t aim to halt all unnecessary evictions. As a result, eviction cases where the landlord’s stated reason is unrelated to nonpayment of rent are on the rise.

By way of example, landlords have begun pursuing evictions for minor lease violations, such as taking in a family member who isn’t on the lease; trivial “nuisance” allegations, such as playing loud music on the premises; and reasons that aren’t the fault of the tenant, such as the owner wishing to move in.

It is no coincidence that many of the tenants who are receiving eviction notices for these stated reasons are unable to pay rent due to COVID-19. We need local protections for renters that reflect the seriousness of the public health risk of putting families out of their homes during a pandemic. The time for health and safety, the time for action, is now.

Suzanne Dershowitz is a housing policy attorney for Legal Aid of Sonoma County.

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