WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council on Tuesday joined other Santa Cruz County municipalities in enacting a moratorium on no-fault evictions until a new state law limiting rent increases and requiring just-cause evictions goes into effect next year.
The emergency ordinance passed unanimously with councilwoman Trina Coffman-Gomez abstaining. It went into effect immediately.
Signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 8, Assembly Bill 1482—also known as the Tenant Protection Act of 2019—is a statewide law addressing the housing crisis by limiting annual rent increases to 5 percent plus inflation, or 10 percent of the lowest gross rental rate charged for that dwelling unit at any time during the prior 12 months, whichever is lower.
AB 1482 also requires landlords to have and state a just cause in order to evict tenants who have occupied the premises for more than one year, including owner-occupation, failure to pay rent, breach of the lease and creating a nuisance or more.
Both the rent cap and the just cause provisions are subject to exemptions, including housing built in the past 15 years and single-family residences unless owned by a real estate trust or corporation.
AB 1482 sunsets after 10 years.
Watsonville’s ordinance mirrors AB 1482 much like the recent ordinances passed by both Santa Cruz and Capitola, as well as the County of Santa Cruz.
The ordinance was a response to recent reports of no-fault eviction notices served to multiple families on Miles Lane from C&C Property Management, according to councilwoman Rebecca Garcia.
A few of those residents were fighting back tears as they addressed the Council on Tuesday.
“I want to ask you to pass this emergency ordinance to not only help us but everyone in the city of Watsonville,” one resident said. “We’re all hardworking people, and it would be awful for our families and kids to be on the streets for the holidays.”
Gretchen Regenhardt, regional director for California Rural Legal Assistance, said tenants at an eight-unit complex on Miles Lanes and a 10-unit complex in Capitola were all handed eviction notices. Some were given no-fault eviction notices, and others were told they needed to vacate the properties because of planned renovations—a claim Regenhardt and tenants dispute.
All of these eviction notices came after the passing of AB 1482 and months after some tenants—most of them low- to moderate-income families, according to Regenhardt—were given a $600 rent hike.
Calls into C&C Property Management were not returned by 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The ordinance, Regenhardt said, would cover tenants who were served 60-day, no-fault eviction notices after Sept. 12, so long as they have not moved from the property.
“These cases are not good for communities,” Regenhardt said. “Not only does it defy the intent of the law but it is also going to raise the rents around the areas…The people that are getting eviction notices are going to be competing for a very small stock of affordable housing.”
