Title
Adoption of Urgency Uncodified Ordinance Imposing within the City of Alameda a Temporary Moratorium on (A) Residential and Commercial Evictions due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and (B) Landlords Shutting off Utilities in Residential and Commercial Rental Units Except for Emergency Situations, and Repealing Ordinance No. 3268. (Community Development)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On March 17, 2020, the City Council adopted an urgency ordinance establishing a 60-day moratorium on: 1) evictions from residential rental units due to the COVID-19 pandemic and 2) landlords shutting off utilities in rental units except in emergency situations. As part of adopting that ordinance, City Council directed staff to expand the moratorium to include commercial evictions and foreclosures. As a result of that direction, staff has prepared a new urgency ordinance that repeals the original urgency ordinance (Ordinance No. 3268) and replaces it with a more comprehensive ordinance that establishes a moratorium on residential and commercial evictions, including foreclosures, and prohibits landlords' shutting off utilities in both commercial and rental units except for emergency situations.
The proposed new urgency ordinance is consistent with the previous ordinance in that the temporary moratorium (which would be in place for as long as the City of Alameda's (City) emergency declaration is in place) would address evictions due to a substantial loss of income resulting from COVID-19 and non-emergency utility shut-offs by landlords. It would provide residential and commercial tenants, and residential and commercial mortgagors, with a substantive eviction defense if an eviction proceeding (an unlawful detainer) were filed against the tenant for non-payment of rent or against a homeowner/mortgagor following a foreclosure, and the tenant or mortgagor could demonstrate that the non-payment of rent or non-payment of the mortgage that led t...
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