Alameda County landlords push to end eviction moratorium

Landlords frustrated by a nearly three-year eviction moratorium in Alameda County are demanding supervisors finally call it quits.

The property owners have ramped up pressure to lift the pandemic tenant protections they say have ruined the livelihoods of mom-and-pop rental owners, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The moratorium, which prevents most evictions across the county, is among the last remaining in the Bay Area and throughout the state.

Landlords have filed lawsuits, petitioned local officials and one even planned a hunger strike in hopes of putting an end to the emergency ordinance, set to come up for review next week.

This week, a group of frustrated landlords plans to voice their concerns during a public meeting of the Board of Supervisors to discuss potentially ending or modifying the moratorium. If the board declines to take action, the ban will likely expire at the end of April — 60 days after the county’s COVID-19 emergency is set to lapse Feb. 28.

In Alameda County, an estimated 32,900 households owe a combined $125 million in unpaid rent, according to researchers with the National Equity Atlas. 

While the moratorium — like now-expired state and federal eviction bans — still requires tenants to pay back landlords or seek rental assistance, rental owners say aid applications are frequently denied and it can be difficult for small landlords with limited resources to recoup unpaid rent in court.

Jingyu Wu, an owner of a triplex in San Leandro, planned to go on a hunger strike Sunday outside a county administration building in Oakland to protest the eviction restrictions, which he said left him teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

Just before the pandemic, Wu rented an apartment to a woman with young children who was in desperate need of a home. Since then, the family has racked up more than $120,000 in rent debt,  he said. 

A first-generation immigrant who arrived in the U.S. from China in 2016, Wu is doing the maintenance work at the property himself to save money. As long as the moratorium remains in place, the landlord said he’s prepared to carry out his protest for “at least one or two months, until I die.”

Earlier this month, a Silicon Valley developer also vowed a hunger strike “until death” outside Sunnyvale City Hall to protest one of his projects being denied building permits. Eight days later, he started eating again after officials appeared to OK paperwork to allow the project to proceed.

Supervisor David Haubert said the Alameda County moratorium had outlived its original purpose, and supports lifting it.

“Many housing providers report tenants exhibiting deliberate harassment of neighboring tenants, unlawful subletting, and ignoring lease terms with impunity because they feel emboldened by the eviction moratorium,” Haubert said in a statement.

Tenant rights advocates, meanwhile, contend the ban is needed to protect renters still reeling from the economic devastation of the pandemic and struggling to afford the region’s high housing costs. 

Last month, activists with Oakland-based Moms 4 Housing shut down an Alameda County supervisors’ meeting while demanding the county approve additional renter safeguards before the moratorium expires.

Even if supervisors end the moratorium, ongoing eviction bans could continue shielding local renters.

Oakland just extended its strict eviction protections through at least March. The Berkeley City Council will consider this week whether to extend its moratorium or let it expire. El Cerrito will likely allow its ban to lapse at the end of the month.

San Leandro recently extended its eviction ban until February of next year, though the City Council plans to review the protections every 90 days. 

To force the issue, landlord groups are suing to end the overlapping eviction bans in the county and Oakland. They argue the protections have become an undue burden on rental owners since the worst of the pandemic is over and most people have returned to work.

After a hearing earlier this month, a federal judge could rule on whether to strike down the protections in the coming days or weeks, according to the California Apartment Association, a plaintiff in the cases.

— Dana Bartholomew