SLO City Council considers rent freeze during coronavirus crisis. Here’s what it decided
The San Luis Obispo City Council won’t pursue a proposed resolution on canceling rent and mortgages during the coronavirus pandemic’s shelter-at-home period, despite support from the city’s mayor.
Mayor Heidi Harmon is advocating for a statewide moratorium that could abolish rent payments for tenants for a period of time, and halt mortgage payments, given the widespread financial challenges that community members are facing during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Harmon brought the controversial issue before the council on Tuesday in attempt to gain consensus toward a possible resolution to present to Gov. Gavin Newsom, but she lacked majority council support.
San Francisco city supervisors already voted in favor of a resolution to build support to freeze rent and mortgage payments, saying it would help stop the next Great Depression.
And a local grassroots campaign is urging other cities in San Luis Obispo County to do the same.
“We’re trying to figure out how we can solve this huge problem of renters not being able to pay their rent for a significant amount of time, maybe as long as six months, as they try to cover costs for food, medicine and other resources without income,” Harmon told The Tribune. “Housing is a fundamental right and I don’t think people should be forced out of their homes because they’ve lost their jobs.”
SLO City Council majority declines rent freeze discussion
San Luis Obispo council member Aaron Gomez seconded Harmon’s motion to put the issue on a council agenda for further discussion and a vote. But three other council members — Andy Pease, Erica Stewart and Carlyn Christianson — declined to move the matter forward.
In a letter shared to constituents, and with The Tribune, Pease said she sympathizes with “concerns about deep economic impacts due to job loss,” which she said federal, state and local governments already are working hard to address.
“Many programs are already in place to delay payments for taxes, fees and other expenses, and the state and federal government continue to develop and consider massive financial relief packages,” Pease said. “Evictions are currently illegal, mortgage payments may be extended without penalty, and many property owners are appropriately negotiating with their tenants to ensure long-term fiscal health for all parties.”
Pease said she’d “certainly seek and advocate for programs to support housing for all and immediate rent and mortgage relief for those who need it.”
Ed Waage, Pismo Beach’s mayor, said Tuesday that the South County city’s council will issue a letter to Newsom urging relief for renters as well — but without any specific direction on how to accomplish that.
Would rent, mortgage payment moratorium be legal?
Newsom’s current order banning evictions allows for renters affected by the new coronavirus impacts to delay paying rent through May 31.
The order requires tenants to declare in writing, no more than seven days after the rent comes due, that they can’t “pay all or part of their rent due to COVID-19,” his office said in a news release.
But renters would remain obligated to repay full rent in a timely manner, or face eviction, once the order is lifted.
Even with the stimulus checks the federal government is issuing — $1,200 per adult and $500 per child — along with business loans, that money won’t go far enough for many people, Harmon said.
Harmon said that “65% of the community are renters and so many of them are without income right now.”
She said one possibility could be to permanently waive rent for tenants for a period of time, possibly up to six months.
Then landlords could owe six months of payments at the end of their mortgage period — say 10 years from now, when renters would be able to pay to help support those costs, she explained.
City attorney Christine Dietrick said, if implemented on a local level, a rent freeze would present “real (legal) concerns about government entities interfering with private contracts.”
“I wouldn’t speak for the state about what authority they would have to do this and that would require researching it in depth,” Dietrick said. “But that’s likely why (the state eviction ban) didn’t go beyond the extent that it did.”
Harmon said she was confident the state could find a pathway forward to alleviate legal concerns around a rent freeze.
But Councilwoman Carlyn Christianson said the city has a host of other concerns right now, as it projects a $6.5 million budget decrease in bed and sales tax.
She considers the issue “symbolic” for the city rather than having any teeth on a local level.
Activists, rental property owners debate issue
Quinn Brady, a Los Osos resident and community advocate, is calling upon residents to write letters in support of a moratorium to all local city councils and county government leaders, as others rally for statewide support.
Brady said that there is opportunity for property owners and renters to collaborate meaningfully, but “not every relationship between renters and landlords is the same.”
“There needs to be protections against predatory landlords and protections for people who are being taken advantage of,” Brady said. “We don’t need a mass homeless crisis, and for this to push people to leave homes before it’s safe to do so. We’ve done a great job of flattening the curve, but we have to stay the course until it’s safe for the community to what’s right next.”
Daniel Yukelson, executive director of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, sent a letter to the San Luis Obispo City Council contending that rental property owners would be unfairly affected.
“Rent cancellation merely ‘kicks the can down the road’ to the next unfortunate person by placing a financial burden on housing providers who are then left to figure out how to meet their mortgage, property tax, insurance and a multitude of other ongoing monthly obligations without receiving the income they depend on,” Yukelson said.
“The Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles has been encouraging our members to work with renters by accepting partial rent payments and working out mutually agreeable terms for repayment of deferred rent,” Yukelson added.
This story was originally published April 8, 2020 at 1:42 PM.
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