LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors on Thursday unanimously approved an urgency ordinance to protect residents of the unincorporated county against price gouging for rental housing and unlawful evictions during the COVID-19 state of emergency.
County Counsel Anita Grant presented the urgency ordinance, which required a four-fifths vote, to the board at the request of Supervisor Rob Brown.
Grant said the board has taken similar action during previous states of emergency in the county.
Brown said it’s also consistent with an order already put in place by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
He said it isn’t meant to allow people to not pay their rent, but rather is intended to protect people from getting kicked out of their homes because of the illness.
Grant said that, during the state of emergency, properties cannot be rented for more than the average rental price, defined in the ordinance as the price for the dwelling unit during the 30-day period immediately preceding the emergency.
She said it also prevents landlords from evicting someone and then charging a new tenant a greater amount for rent.
Violation of the urgency ordinance is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $20,000.
There was no public input on the ordinance, which Brown moved to approve and the board members joined in approving 5-0.
On Thursday the city of Clearlake enacted its own urgency ordinance, in effect until at least May 19, that imposes a moratorium on residential evictions for those impacted by COVID-19, as Lake County News has reported.
The city’s ordinance also doesn’t waive a tenant’s obligations to pay back rent but offers short-term protection from eviction due to the inability to pay rent. Tenants have up to 180 days after the ordinance’s March 19 implementation to pay their landlord all unpaid rent.
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Supervisors approve urgency ordinance to stop rental housing price gouging, unlawful evictions
- Elizabeth Larson
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