Stockton City Council Approves Ban On No-Fault Evictions
STOCKTON (CBS13) — The Stockton City Council approved a ban on no-fault evictions. It's a move to protect people ahead of new state-wide rental rules going into effect in January.
The rules prevent landlords from evicting tenants without cause and puts a cap on raising the rent. Tuesday evening, the city council unanimously voted in favor of banning the evictions.
Morgan Johnson is a hardworking single mother of three, struggling to find affordable housing.
"It should not be like this. Like kids should not be put out because of money," Johnson said.
She says she and her family were recently evicted from their Stockton duplex. "They had just raised the rent that year $100," Johnson said. Then the landlord raised the rates again.
"I was telling them 'I can do it. I need to stay in my place right now,'" Johnson said. "They said no. I had a 60-day notice."
READ: Supervisor Sue Frost Explains No Vote On No-Fault Evictions Ban
It's a situation her mother, Toni McNeil, says she's seeing more frequently through her work at Faith in the Valley, a faith-based community organization working to fight equity issues such as housing.
"I have seniors that have been evicted because they're on fixed incomes and they can no longer afford it," McNeil said.
These issues prompted the mother and daughter to attend a Stockton City Council meeting to discuss a policy to protect people from eviction.
"We're just saying all types of housing are covered, all types of renters are covered and we do it starting now," Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs said.
Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed the "Tenant Protection Act" into law, prohibiting landlords from evicting tenants without just cause and limiting rent increases from 5 to 10%. The bill does not take effect until January 1, creating an "eviction rush" as the city says some landlords look to significantly increase rent.
One property manager in Stockton says he's split on the issue.
"For the majority of property managers, they're going to do their best to maintain their properties, but for the minority, that are only concerned about return on investment, they're going to start doing things like neglecting roof leaks," Chris Matteucci with Matteuci Property Management said.
He says maintenance could be delayed because the funding stream will no longer be there.
Under the new law, landlords will be able to evict someone if they fail to pay rent, breach their lease agreement, are a nuisance, or commit a crime.