Lemon Grove will host public workshops in March and April to get community members’ input on whether the city should make temporary tenant protections permanent.
In a 4-1 vote last month, the City Council approved a temporary ordinance that strengthens renters protections. Landlords face new requirements with so-called no-fault evictions. These evictions happen when landlords want tenants to vacate the property even though they’ve paid their rent and not violated terms of the lease.
The council created the temporary ordinance after multiple renters from the city’s Serra Grove apartment complex received eviction notices earlier this year.
No-fault evictions have become a flashpoint among landlords and tenant advocates across the county since 2019, when the California Legislature passed the Tenant Protection Act.
The law offers more safeguards for renters by requiring most landlords to provide ample justification for evicting someone. However, it did leave flexibility for landlords to evict tenants for demolition or “substantial remodels.”
Lemon Grove follows in the footsteps of other cities — including Chula Vista, San Diego and Imperial Beach — that have put more restrictions on “no-fault” evictions for substantial remodels or renovations.
It appears the City Council has enough votes to pass a permanent ordinance, but there are concerns among council members about both the ordinance and how it's been handled so far.
Councilmember Yadira Altamirano said she believes tenants are adequately protected by state law and it’s not in the city’s best interest to pass a more stringent local ordinance.
“If it was up to me, I would reverse the entire thing tonight,” Altamirano said. “I don't believe it's necessary. Our job is to protect the city and I have strong concerns that there may be liability.”
Councilmember Seth Smith says he’s not against a stricter law on principle, but does not like how Mayor Alysson Snow had gone about soliciting community feedback.
Last week, both Smith and Altamirano went so far as to allege that Snow has a conflict of interest and said she should have recused herself from discussion regarding the ordinance and public input.
Specifically, they point to a Zoom meeting that city staff recently planned that included a list of stakeholders recommended by Snow. The list includes the Legal Aid Society, where Snow formally worked as an attorney.
In an interview with KPBS, Smith said he was especially concerned that the proposed Zoom meeting wouldn’t be publicly available. The meeting was scrapped after Smith let his concerns be known.
“To be clear, I am a tenant, and I would like to pass a tenant protection ordinance,” Smith said. “But what we're seeing right now is council responding to an ordinance and some preselected stakeholders who are not residents, and who have ties with the mayor, being forced on us without having had proper discussion with our community … And this was blindsiding to us.”
Snow denied the conflict of interest allegations.
“I will recognize that I am an expert in housing law … I believe I am able to be fair and balanced when I'm doing this,” Snow said. “I personally want to declare openly that I have no conflicts of interest. I do not represent a single tenant in that community.”
After Snow refused to recuse herself from the discussion, Smith and Altamirano left the meeting. Nonetheless, Snow, Mayor Pro Tem Jessyka Heredia and Councilmember Jennifer Mendoza directed staff to set up two public workshops.
“I really wanted pure community opinion and that would mean landlords of this community, that would be residents of this community, that could be property owners or investors that are actively working in this community,” Heredia said.
The workshops are scheduled for later this month and April. After staff get community feedback, they will go back to the Council for next steps.
