Eviction moratorium, rent increases and local curfew on Dec. 29 agenda
The Avalon City Council will update its COVID-19 urgency ordinance at a special meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 29.
The council is expected to let the city’s current moratorium on evictions expire, as that was the direction they gave staff at the Dec. 15 meeting.
However, the council has also directed staff to extend the moratorium on rent increases until the end of March. A provision was added to allow landlords to request a hardship exemption.
The local curfew would remain in place.
According to a staff report prepared by administrative analyst Devin Hart and Assistant City Manager Michael Parmer, the federal eviction moratorium is set to expire on Thursday, Dec. 31, but might be extended for at least a month. (At least two news organizations reported the same thing on Dec. 22.)
The state moratorium on evictions is scheduled to end Feb. 1, 2021, but according to the Hart-Parmer report, Assembly Bill 15 would extend California’s eviction moratorium to Dec. 31, 2021. (AB 15 may be heard in committee on Jan. 7, 2021, according to the California Legislature’s website.
The county moratorium is currently scheduled to expire Jan. 31, 2021, according to the Hart-Parmer report.
At the Dec. 15 discussion, Council Member Michael Ponce wanted to know if extending the eviction moratorium would help people who were making an effort. He said he was “ticked off” that some people were not making an effort.
Council Member Lisa Lavelle said that she was curious to know how many people are not paying rent at all. She said this wasn’t necessarily the time to have people evicted. However, she also said she did not support those individuals who had not contacted their landlords.
At the time, City Attorney Scott Campbell said the current urgency ordinance put the onus on the tenants to contact the landlords.
However, Campbell pointed out that the courts are not processing evictions at this time.
