It may be too little, too late, but the likely outcome is that Oakland's draconian eviction moratorium will be phased out in choreographed steps.

Rain sogged housing providers were well represented before and during Tuesday's Oakland City Council meeting that was anything but boring and dreary.

Among the items on the agenda: amending an arcane section of the Municipal Code which relates to how often Oakland lawmakers revisit its local eviction declarations.

While there was no item on Tuesday's agenda specifically on Oakland's eviction moratorium, it is inexorably tied to when the local state of emergency ends and so we cannot really separate the two issues. Since the eviction ban will expire when the City Council ends its COVID-19 proclamation of emergency, this was indeed relevant to the meeting at hand.

 

This seemed to be lost on lawmakers at first

In opening remarks, the audience was told that the eviction moratorium was off-limits for discussion. Once the rental housing community erupted in protest, lawmakers and their staffers seemed frazzled but gained their composure. Cooler minds prevailed and the audience was told that they could in fact impart their thoughts on the eviction ban. This quieted constituents and the meeting turned into a picnic-like atmosphere as council members took care of other city business.

 

When rental housing providers had their time to speak, they did so with a vengeance

We heard cogent arguments against the moratorium, but we also heard very harrowing stories from mom and pop landlords that are hard to dismiss whatever someone's political persuasion.

The renowned sales trainer, the late Zig Ziglar, said that people buy on emotion and they justify it on logic. Oakland council members got a steady dose of each.

 

The logic? 

A speaker went to the dictionary to define what an “emergency” is and submitted that no such emergency exists in Oakland. Alameda County Supervisors came to the same conclusion in letting their eviction moratorium expire.

While the city wants to tackle the homelessness crisis, the eviction moratorium only aggravates it because landlords won’t welcome new residents until there is some assurance that rent is paid.

Council members voted to raise their own salaries while many landlords have no income. Owners are required to maintain their properties, sometimes fixing things late at night with no way to pay for repairs. Rental housing is the only sector in the economy asked to provide a free service. We can go on.

 

And then there is the emotion, and it was very real

How can we summarize the anguish of so many landlords throughout Oakland? We can’t. But their stories were told on Tuesday, and it is impossible for even the most left-leaning tenant sympathizers not to be moved by them.

Although there was a lot of blue in the audience - many were sporting shirts emblazoned with “People need housing, we provide homes” - the speakers were of every color, every age, and from every background with a unique horror story to tell.

 

Where we go from here

Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas has a blueprint on how the eviction moratorium will end. We’ve become accustomed to Bay Area locales duplicating the policies and tenant protections of their neighbors and so it’s with little surprise that the planned phase-out of Oakland’s moratorium looks much like Berkeley’s.

 

 

Politicians are not done yet. In discussing the eviction moratorium, they want to avail the opportunity to usher in still more tenant protections.

As this is all sorted out there is also a troubling sentiment by lawmakers that “just cause” reasons for evictions should be tinkered with. For example, prohibit evictions based on non-payment of rent when the amount demanded is less than one month of “fair market rent” as determined by HUD.

More proposals floated: requiring landlords to demonstrate “substantial” damage before evicting tenants for breach of lease, conforming occupancy limits to state law, and limiting evictions of Resident Managers with pre-existing tenancies.

Whatever the regulatory regime that lies ahead, Bornstein Law will surely keep you in the know and you can rely on our informed guidance to power through your real estate challenges.

A special thanks to Chris Moore and many other allies in the rental housing community who have not been passive in exposing senseless and detrimental policies that have been dictated thus far by tenants’ advocacy groups like ACCE Action. Let’s keep on evening the score.