Landlords Express Frustration With LA’s Eviction Moratorium As State Eviction Ban Ends

Authored by Micaela Ricaforte via The Epoch Times,

Landlords in California breathed a sigh of relief when the state’s eviction ban ended last week; however, the city of Los Angeles’s moratorium will continue as long as the city is in a state of local emergency.

Bans on tenant evictions were implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic on federal, state, and city levels; many of those eviction bans are coming to an end as the nation sees an overall decline in the unemployment rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In August, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lacked authority to impose a federal eviction ban; the Supreme Court instead said that Congress must enact such a policy.

California’s eviction moratorium ended last week on Sept. 30.

However, the city of Los Angeles’s eviction ban will likely go on for at least another year, while tenants in Los Angeles County will also have eviction protections as well under a motion passed last month.

Some in favor of an extended eviction moratorium argue that Los Angeles’s already high rates of homelessness may skyrocket when renters who have not been able to pay rent are evicted as the moratorium ends.

Though both city and state are making efforts to support both landlords and tenants under the moratorium, some landlords express frustration with the city’s handling of the eviction ban.

“I can’t believe that this has been handled as if nothing is happening to landlords,” Carrie Cunningham-Holmes told The Epoch Times.

Last month, the city of Los Angeles began offering rental assistance to both landlords and tenants under the Emergency Renters Assistance Program for those who have not been able to pay rent because of the pandemic.

According to the city’s website, the city of LA received 49,633 total rent relief applications, which amounts to over $725 million in rent relief, with the average assistance being about $15,220 per application. The city has paid out over $31 million as of Sept. 27.

In August, Councilman Kevin de León introduced a motion to shorten the timeline for landlords to receive back rent for tenants who couldn’t pay their rent. The motion called on the Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department to pay all landlords’ outstanding applications by Oct. 1.

In a previous interview, Cunningham-Holmes told The Epoch Times that she filed for renters’ relief funds at the beginning of July. On Oct. 4, however, she said that she still hadn’t received any relief funds.

“I don’t think they realize the [bind] they’re putting us in,” Cunningham-Holmes said.

“You know, you can’t go a year and a half and not do [maintenance] things around your building.”

The water bill in one of her buildings has more than doubled in cost, she said, due to people working from home because of the pandemic.

“My bill has gone up since people have been home and moving in extra people that we cannot evict. These extra tenants are creating excessive expenses, excessive water uses,” Cunningham-Holmes said in the previous interview.

The Housing and Community Investment Department didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.