A group of local organizations is calling on Santa Maria City Council members to pass policies that would make it easier for people who are struggling to pay rent as a result of COVID-19—but the limitations of the city’s jurisdiction might present hurdles to their demands.
Angel Lopez, a youth organizer with Future Leaders of America, started a change.org petition urging the council “to follow the lead of many other neighboring cities and take action in protecting our tenants and small business from evictions and foreclosures.” He also told the Sun that his organization is “asking our students to share their stories on how COVID has affected them” with the City Council.
Initially, the petition asked that Santa Maria freeze all evictions in light of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s March 16 executive order allowing local governments to halt evictions for renters. But after Newsom issued a statewide moratorium on evictions on March 27, the demands from local organizations shifted to reflect the governor’s most recent orders.
According to Abraham Melendrez, a policy advocate with Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE), the governor’s order does not actually halt eviction notices—instead, it simply kicks the can down the road.
“The landlords are still able to serve an eviction notice, but what the governor has done has basically delayed the local sheriffs or other kinds of enforcement agencies from actually enforcing those evictions,” Melendrez told the Sun. “A big issue that could end up happening is that once the order expires on May 31, then a bunch of people will eventually still have to respond to those evictions and will potentially be homeless right after.”
For this reason, CAUSE and partnering organizations are calling for Santa Maria to pass policies that would make things easier for those struggling to pay rents as a result of COVID-19.
“We compiled a lot of the policies that other cities have passed,” Melendrez said. “A lot of times people have to provide a notice to their landlord that they’re not able to pay their rent. The governor’s order gives renters seven days after the rent is due. We’re asking for a 30-day period and to include text messaging in those official written communications.”
He said that including text messaging as a part of official written communications would make it easier for renters to communicate with their landlords. Other asks include giving renters six months to pay back their missed rent once the statewide moratorium has concluded, an idea that Santa Barbara’s City Council mulled over at its March 24 meeting. Organizations are also asking to stop late fees and consider relief for small businesses.
The difficulty that the council may run into is whether it is within the city’s legal right to act on preventing evictions. City Attorney Thomas Watson told the Sun that the only government organization that has any authority over evictions is the Superior Court.
“In order to affect an eviction … the landlord files an action in the Superior Court, the Superior Court issues a writ of possession, the landlord then gets the sheriff’s office to come and have that person removed from the property,” Watson said. “That’s why cities, while they can make statements of policy, have no legal authority to prevent an eviction.”
Councilmember Mike Cordero said that he would be willing to take on anything that falls within the city’s jurisdiction.
“If anything was brought before the city that we have a legal right or responsibility to deal with, then I would take that on,” he said. “But on the other hand, if something does not fall within the responsibilities of the City Council, I would refer that to the city attorney or to the proper agency of jurisdiction.”
Councilmember Gloria Soto told the Sun that she believes City Council can help renters—who make up more than half of Santa Maria’s residents—by making these supportive statements of policy that Watson referenced.
“Even though the state governor has put in place this new order, it’s still important for local jurisdictions, for municipalities, for counties to show support of it in order to be able to protect tenants across the state of California,” Soto said. “My understanding is that it’s going to be really challenging for the state to be able to enforce this order.”
In Oakland, the City Council was able to get the Superior Court to halt court proceedings by sending a letter demanding that they pause evictions.
“That’s where these local jurisdictions need to come into play, including the city of Santa Maria,” Soto said. “This is where we need to stand up and say, ‘Yes we are in support of this order and we’re going to do our part in protecting tenants.’”
This article appears in Apr 2-9, 2020.
