Pasadena Eviction Moratorium Still in Effect

Although the state legislature passed legislation on Monday that will require tenants to pay 25 percent of back rent not paid during the moratorium for the remainder of the year, Pasadena’s eviction moratorium remains unchanged.

According to information released by the city on Monday, “Landlords may not pursue no-fault evictions or evictions for non-payment of rent for tenants who can’t afford to pay because of the pandemic.”

Tenants can use the moratorium as a defense in court but must appear in court to use that defense.

Tenants must give landlords notice in writing that they have been impacted by the coronavirus and provide documentation of that impact in writing.

The city’s moratorium will end when the city lifts its state of emergency. Once it ends, tenants have six months to pay back rent that went unpaid during the emergency. Landlords cannot charge late fees on rent that was not paid during the moratorium.

Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom cut a deal that would force tenants to pay 25 percent of their unpaid moratorium rent from September through January to remain in their homes.

Renters making above 130 percent of their regional area median income (AMI) will need to provide additional proof of COVID-related economic hardship to avoid eviction. The measure expires Feb. 1, at which point a tenant must pay their rent in full to avoid eviction.

“The governor’s new compromise bill (Assembly Bill 3088) is compromising people’s lives,” said local housing advocate Ryan Bell. “Those on the frontlines of that gamble are those least able to bear the burden: Black and Brown communities and the lowest income tenants without savings and other backup plans.

“The only way to stop the spread of Covid-19 is for people to stay home, but with the loss of the Judicial Council’s Rule 1, millions will face eviction due to no fault of their own. Tenants are demanding a complete ban on evictions until 90 days after the governor lifts the state of emergency.”

According to a recent study by the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy, about 365,000 renter households in Los Angeles County are in imminent danger of eviction once an order halting evictions is lifted.

According to the study, which was published in late May, by early May nearly 600,000 people in L.A County had lost their jobs and had no unemployment insurance or other income replacement.

Nearly 450,000 of those people live in 365,000 units of rental housing, and 558,000 children live in those households.

The study also found that people in 120,000 households in L.A. County will become homeless soon after orders stopping evictions are lifted.