To: Board of Supervisors of Sonoma County
Department or Agency Name(s): County Counsel, County Administrator
Staff Name and Phone Number: Elizabeth Coleman, (707) 565-2421; Travis Shenk (707) 565-2048
Vote Requirement: Informational Only
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Options to Augment Protections for Unincorporated Residential Tenants
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
A) Review and discuss augmented local renter’s protections options, and
B) Provide direction on what additional efforts, if any, staff should complete.
end
Executive Summary:
In adopting the California Tenant Protection Act of 2019, the California legislature instituted a suite of tenant protections that limited the terms upon which landlords can evict tenants, effective on January 1, 2020. The provisions of the Tenant Protection Act provide broad protections for residential tenants who meet certain threshold requirements related to the length of tenancy and type of property occupied. While the protections cover many tenants and prevent certain types of evictions, state law allows for greater protections to be adopted by local agencies. An overview of the protections from this Act and subsequent modifications can be found on Attachment A.
As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in March 2020, federal, state, and local governments began implementing additional tenant protections aimed at preventing displacement during the health crisis under their emergency response authority.
Sonoma County first passed Urgency Ordinance 6301 <https://library.municode.com/ca/sonoma_county/ordinances/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=1034609> on March 24, 2020, to ensure that no tenant residing in the County would be evicted for non-payment of rent due to a documented loss of income associated with COVID-19.
On February 9, 2021, Sonoma County passed Urgency Ordinance 6337 <https://library.municode.com/ca/sonoma_county/ordinances/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=1067805>, commonly referred to as the “Just Cause” ordinance. This ordinance amended Ordinance 6301, limiting evictions to those where: 1) tenant posed an imminent threat to health or safety (e.g., violence); 2) landlord was removing the property from the rental market (via a state law called the Ellis Act); or 3) tenant’s nonpayment of rent fell under certain limited circumstances. See Attachment B.
Subsequently, on August 15, 2023, Community Development Commission staff presented an analysis <https://sonoma-county.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6309782&GUID=293EFF18-E429-466B-B1F3-EE974D478A83&Options=Text|&Search=Just+Cause> of impacts after Sonoma County’s Just Cause Ordinance ended on 9/30/2022. See Attachment C. At that time, the Board directed the County Administrator and County Counsel to return with a discussion of possible options for residential use rental protections.
This item includes an overview of current tenant protections applicable to Sonoma County’s residential tenants via state law and explores options to augment protections for unincorporated area renters.
Staff requests direction from the Board on: (1) whether to develop additional local legislation augmenting protections for residential renters; and if so (2) which option(s). Alternatively, the Board may wish to wait for the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) Centro Legal de La Raza regional Eviction and Housing Legal Services Study <https://mtc.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=12059314&GUID=515D88AE-B27B-440B-8211-A894BA5929CD>, which intends to fill critical gaps in data and knowledge about evictions and the availability of housing legal services in the Bay Area to help inform future policies and programs throughout the region. The study will take place between July 2023 and October 2024.
Discussion:
On 1/31/2023 the Board adopted a resolution supporting the Sonoma County Continuum of Care (CoC) December 14, 2022, -Five (5) Year Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 2023 2027 <https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/Main%20County%20Site/Development%20Services/CDC/Homeless%20Services/Continuum%20of%20Care/Strategic%20Plan/SonomaCountyStrategicPlan_CoCAdopted-12142022.pdf>, which includes More Housing and Prevention as a primary strategy. This Strategy is defined as, “Create comprehensive housing interventions, from prevention to permanent housing, to reduce inflow into homelessness and increase pathways to housing stability.” The 2023 Sonoma County Point In Time Count <https://sonoma-county.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6338145&GUID=1EBB9601-5AFB-4995-AAF2-EACB1E5924F5&Options=&Search=> found that eviction (14%) and rent increases (7%) are primary causes of homelessness as shown on Attachment D. Consequently, a discussion on measures to ensure that renters have equitable access to housing, can stay in their homes and communities, and are protected from market speculation and systemic discrimination supports the intent of the CoC Strategic Plan.
Renter Demographics
Homeownership often provides more stability in housing costs over the long term, whereas, renting costs can fluctuate based on the market and landlord decisions. The US Census as of 7/1/2022 showed Sonoma County’s population is 482,650 housed in 208,462 total housing units with 61.4% identified as owner occupied and 2017-2021 median gross monthly rent of $1,856. US Census data shows Sonoma County has a renter percent of 38.6%, which is the second highest among neighboring counties. Black and Latino households are more likely to occupy rented units, with over half of all those populations’ households renting. According to both the US Census Bureau and the 2021 update to the Portrait of Sonoma <https://upstreaminvestments.org/Microsites/Upstream%20Investments/Documents/Archive/Portrait-of-Sonoma-County-2021-Report.ADA.pdf>, 52% of renters in Sonoma County are rent burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their incomes on rent. The level of cost burden varies by race and ethnicity, with 52% of Asian and 53% of white renters in the county facing a high housing burden, compared to 59% of Latino renters and 68% of Black renters.
Tenant Protections Tied to Covid-19
As COVID-19 reached California in March 2020, the federal government, the State of California, and the County of Sonoma took separate steps to preserve housing status for Sonoma County’s renters. The primary tools were the Emergency Rental Assistance Programs (ERAP) offered by both the Federal and State governments, and eviction limitations for non-payment of rent and other non-essential reasons for eviction, including Sonoma County’s Just Cause ordinance. See Attachment A for additional information.
Bay Area Housing Finance Authority Eviction Study - Expected by October 2024
The Bay Area Housing Finance Authority <https://mtc.ca.gov/about-mtc/authorities/bay-area-housing-finance-authority-bahfa> (BAHFA) has identified that limited data is available on the rates and causes of Bay Area evictions, the demographics and geographies that are most affected, and the landscape of available legal and financial services to assist affected households. In June 2023, BAHFA was authorized to contract a consultancy, Centro Legal de La Raza <https://mtc.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6247328&GUID=9EE58556-BC57-465D-82A8-1F8920B9EFD0>, to conduct a regional Eviction and Housing Legal Services Study including these components:
1. A quantitative analysis of evictions over the past five years throughout the region, including the rates, causes, outcomes, and characteristics of evictions in each county, and estimates of the demographics of people most affected by evictions. This analysis will draw upon public court eviction records, legal service provider data, and as available, local data sources.
2. A survey and/or series of interviews with legal services providers to determine trends and needs in evictions and the provision of legal services, including variations of available services across geographies, opportunities, and challenges around expansion of services, and the efficacy of legal services in aiding tenants in eviction proceedings. The study will be focused on the entire region, but there may be opportunities for deeper research and policy solutions that are focused on specific geographies depending on data availability (e.g., rent registry data, right to counsel program data, or other local data sources).
The results of the research will be compiled, and BAHFA will be responsible for finalizing content into a public-facing report due in October 2024. BAHFA is spending $250,000 of its Anti-Displacement Pilot budget for this purpose, and the CDC has offered to assist with access to Sonoma County-specific data.
Tenants and/or renters can file a complaint against their landlord in California with the State of California Department of Consumer Affairs (800) 952-5210, or visit the website at www.dca.ca.gov <http://www.dca.ca.gov>
OTHER JURISDICTIONS’ LOCAL PROTECTIONS
While several counties and cities in the State of California have passed their own Just Cause tenant protections, the majority were passed prior to the effective date of the Act, and thus many have protections that have now been exceeded by the statewide protections. An update to the Act in October 2023 closed loopholes in the Act that made enforcement of certain terms of the Act particularly weak or difficult, and provided additional substance to certain protections, including by defining what types of work constitute a substantial remodel, and requiring owners to have obtained permits for such work before they can form the proper basis of a termination. Similar to the passage of the Act in reducing the impact of older local Just Cause ordinances, the 2023 updates to the Act again limited the number of comparable jurisdictions to Sonoma County that have a greater level of protections than state law, by increasing the baseline level of protection available to all Californians. Of the still-effective local Just Cause provisions, protections above the state law’s baseline protections exist in localities that have broadened the type of properties covered by Just Cause to include single family residences, and that have shortened the otherwise-applicable one-year period before Just Cause protections attach, making tenants protected at the time of lease initiation. Others have what are called “Ellis Act” rules, which implement notification procedures for the removal of properties from the local rental market for owner-occupation and are generally still effective after passage of the Act and the 2023 amendment.
Petaluma passed a temporary residential tenant protection ordinance on September 12, 2022, effective on October 12, 2022, soon after the County protections expired. Petaluma followed with a permanent Just Cause ordinance on May 15, 2023. Petaluma’s ordinance closes gaps in coverage inherent under the Act by starting eviction protections at day one of a tenancy rather than one year from move in, and includes single family homes, new construction, and subsidized housing, which are all exempted from State protections. It additionally includes Ellis Act procedures for the removal of properties from the rental market, sets relocation benefit levels for such evictions, and creates post-eviction responsibilities for owners.
OPTIONS TO EXPAND PROTECTIONS FOR UNINCORPORATED AREA RENTERS
A. Expand the Types of Tenancies Protected
• Begin Just Cause protections at the commencement of tenancy or at some point prior to one year of occupation.
• Expand definition of covered properties:
o Include owner-occupied, duplex.
o Include single family homes.
o Include affordable housing units.
o Include new construction.
B. Expand the Substantive Protections to Tenants
• Introduce an Ellis Act program to strengthen the requirements for landlords to terminate tenancies in order or owner-occupy:
o Establish procedural requirements for removal of property from the market
o Augment relocation benefits and/or notice period associate with removal of the property from the market.
o Adopt strict limits on relation of the portion of a property to be owner-occupied to the total property (i.e. do not allow removal of large property from the market for partial owner-occupancy)
(Note: Ellis Act provisions must be tied to a local rent control ordinance to be effective)
• Create re-occupation rights where tenancy is terminated in furtherance of a substantial remodel. State law allows right to reoccupy where remodel is not completed, but a requirement to offer a prior tenant a right to reoccupy upon completion of remodel would augment protection.
• Limit evictions for purposes of substantial remodels to only cases where safety and/or public health require such improvements to the property.
C. Expand the Substantive Protections Enjoyed by Tenants:
• Create pre-positioned ordinance that will cause robust tenant protections, like those adopted during COVID-19 Emergency, to take effect upon emergency declaration. Tenant protections rooted in the County’s emergency response powers would generally apply county-wide, including within incorporated areas.
o E.g., Limit evictions to health and safety needs where state of emergency is declared.
o Avoids procedural hurdles and delays associated with implementing a rapid-response protection scheme for the next major emergency.
• Create scheme of more robust protections, such as a near-blanket prohibition on evictions, prepositions to come into effect upon County invocation of emergency powers in future crises.
Strategic Plan:
This item supports the County’s Five-Year Strategic Plan and is aligned with the following pillar, goal, and objective:
Pillar: Healthy and Safe Communities
Goal 4: Reduce the County’s overall homeless population by 10% each year by enhancing services through improved coordination and collaboration.
Objective 3: Increase investment in programs that treat the underlying causes of homelessness, including substance abuse, mental illness, poverty, and a lack of affordable housing.
Racial Equity:
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
Yes
This item was identified for a Racial Equity Toolkit; however, since the item is not recommending a specific action on an identified policy, program, or practice, the tool was not applied. The data collected and shared in the item can be applied to the toolkit for future housing related decisions. Further, should the Board direct staff to explore specific policy options the effort will include, as much as possible and within the project’s available timeframe, the application of the Racial Equity Analysis tool.
Prior Board Actions:
Urgency Ordinance 6301: Adopted March 24, 2020, prevented eviction for non-payment of rent cause by Covid-19 related loss of income.
Urgency Ordinance 6337: Adopted February 9, 2021, further limited reasons for eviction to identified “just causes.”
Board of Supervisors Item, Analysis of Impacts of Ending Sonoma County's Just Cause Ordinance, August 15, 2023: Board Direction to Staff to Explore Just Cause Ordinance
Fiscal Summary
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
N/A
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
N/A
Attachments:
Attachment A: Existing State Law Eviction Protections
Attachment B: COVID-19 Tenant Protections
Attachment C: Sonoma County Superior Court Unlawful Detainer Data Sets and Charts
Attachment D: Point In Time Count Data
Attachment E: Presentation-English
Attachment F: Presentation-Spanish
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None