San Diego County Supervisors Vote To Continue Eviction Moratorium

Speaker 1: 00:00 Just before a federal judge ruled the CDC overstepped its authority when imposing a nationwide eviction moratorium, San Diego County supervisors imposed a temporary rent cap and new rules to make evictions more difficult for landlords during this pandemic, the move makes San Diego county's eviction laws among the strictest in the state. And joining me to discuss the new laws is vice-chair Nora Vargas, San Diego County supervisor for district one. Vice-chair Vargas. Welcome. Speaker 2: 00:29 Thank you. Thank you for having me Speaker 1: 00:31 First, could the CDC ruling and the DOJ appeal on the national level complicate any local legislation on evictions? Speaker 2: 00:41 Well, I mean, I think we're monitoring what's happening at the national level. We also know that a president Biden is going to make sure he continues to advocate for the thousands of folks who have been evicted since it started the pandemic. And so we're going to continue to monitor that, um, as we will be forward, but I think this particular ordinance, uh, was important for us, uh, to make sure we were protecting, um, some of the renters who had been evicted without this cost. Right. Speaker 1: 01:07 Does this ruling, uh, then with the CDC, uh, on the nationwide eviction ban emphasized the need for the county-wide ban? Speaker 2: 01:16 I think so. I think it's really, what's really important to note is that even, you know, doing these difficult times, and even though we have [inaudible], which is a statewide moratorium in California, and it's supposed to, you know, create rental assistant protections and, and not, and all that, there's still, uh, existed loopholes, uh, that many landlords were using to a big renters. And so I think what we did, uh, with this particular ordinance was make sure that, uh, people can evict somebody just without just cause. Hmm, Speaker 1: 01:47 You mentioned that just cause was one reason a landlord can evict a tenant, but what exactly is that, Speaker 2: 01:54 That means, um, you know, for the health and health and safety of our communities, right? Let's say, um, somebody, uh, is creating some imminent thread, uh, to the area. I think that's when, when, um, uh, somebody can be a big bid or, you know, it's not necessarily, um, you know, it doesn't say if somebody is not doing, you're not following the law and not doing what they're supposed to be doing, they should be able to evict those, those folks. Uh, but what we're saying now is you have to have a just cause for that. And, and I think that a lot of our, uh, a lot of the folks that I have heard her firsthand, uh, were being evicted without that, without an actual, just cause to be able to do that. Speaker 1: 02:36 You know, there was a lot of public interest in this ordinance. The union Tribune noted that many small landlords called into the meeting. What were their concerns? Speaker 2: 02:45 You know, I think rightfully so, landlords were concerned that this would impact them directly. And they said, you know, they, there was a lot of misinformation. I think that was shared to a lot of our communities about what this would do and you know, what I have to, with the many landlords that I've spoken to when I said to them, if you're a good landlord, following the rules and follow up, this should not impact you at all. Right. I mean, um, you know, and, and I think it's important to emphasize that what, what, um, before I think, uh, I think there was just a lot of misinformation about the fact that people can stay in, in, in these, in their dwellings for a long time and that they would not be able to, um, you know, uh, evict somebody if, if somebody did something, you know, that was terrible to their location. And that's, that's not the case. This is really impacting only, this is really protecting, uh, renters who have been the focus of many bad landlords who actually have evicted people during this pandemic without actual just cause. And we've seen it in communities and impure beach, we've seen it. And in some of the communities and Tula Vista where, you know, uh, people are just being, uh, evicted without any causes. Speaker 1: 04:04 Yeah. Mayors have some local cities like Cornetto, Poway, ELCA hone among them oppose the measure, saying it violated their right to local control. Does it really well? Speaker 2: 04:14 You know, I think what we did is a very special circumstance because we are under a state of emergency. Um, this is not, uh, this is something that we're doing because you know, the County is the safety net of our communities and we're supposed to be there for our residents in our counties. And so it's really important to know that what we did is only, this is only happening because we are in a state of emergency, right. Otherwise we would have not done this. And, uh, we see the, the big problem that has caused for so many residents in our County. And so, uh, we went ahead and did this, but I think what's important to note is that there's a lot of other folks like, you know, um, council members from a lot of these cities, uh, that are also supporting this measure because they know it's the right thing to do. Speaker 1: 05:03 And there is a statewide eviction moratorium in place until June 30th. How has that been working well? Speaker 2: 05:11 Well, I mean, I think this is why we ended up creating this, this particular ordinance for the County of San Diego, because we have seen that over a thousand evictions have happened since the pandemic. And, and, and so what we wanted to do is close that loophole to ensure that it protected many of our families in our region. And, and so the Oregon, as it stands as of Tuesday, it really provides protections. Uh, and, uh, for, um, our renters that have been evicted without this, cause Speaker 1: 05:42 The ordinance also includes a rent cap, rent increases are kept at 4%. How will that work? Speaker 2: 05:48 It's actually not 4%. I think there's some misinformation about what that is. It's I think at 1.6%. And so, um, it just depends, um, you know, what we're saying is hold off until after the pandemic and then the governor has lifted, uh, the state of emergency. So we can, as communities are trying to get back on their feet, that we're going to manage this, right? And so this is, this is a temporary, um, control and what we want to make sure we do is that, look, what we're trying to do is really help people through this really challenging times, right? That's what we're trying to do. Uh, people are getting evicted. People have lost their jobs. Um, you know, our communities really have in, particularly in South County and the Latino community has been greatly impacted by COVID and the inequities of the system. And I think that what we want to do is we want to be able to do everything we can to make sure that people are staying in their homes, um, as they're getting back on the feet. And so this is, like I said, a temporary relief for communities during really difficult times. Speaker 1: 06:54 I've been speaking with vice-chair nor of Argus San Diego County supervisor for district one vice-chair Vargas. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you.