McMillan, Acquanette (Netta)
From: Tyler Werrin
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2022 12:43 PM
To: PublicComment-AutoResponse
Subject: End Pasadena's Eviction Moratorium
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Hello,
I am a property owner with a single rental unit on my property (a lawful duplex). For the past year I have relied on the ERAP program to pay the rent that my tenant has not paid me directly due to the pandemic. While the program has been frustratingly slow, at the end of the day, I was still paid by the program and was able to pay my own obligations while my tenant was able to get back on their feet.
With the ERAP program closing its doors on March 31st, that money dries up. My tenant has informed me that the only way they are going to leave my property is through eviction and cites the continuing Pasadena eviction moratorium as blanket protection from this outcome. She doesn't care about racking up debt, as she already has several liens against her for similar situations in the past. The only difference is that in the past, evictions could be brought forth for non-payment and thus the overall debts are considerably lower than what she could theoretically rack up staying on my property rent free. The language within the ordinance does not accurately reflect the reality of a civil judgement of the magnitude my tenant will generate. Sure, at some point in the distant future I will win the judgement, but I will never see a penny.
The money I receive from this rental unit helps to pay our mortgage, property taxes and general maintenance of the entire property. Without this income, I would not be able to afford to continue living here in Pasadena, a place I saved for 11 years to move to, just last year. I myself will be rendered homeless, while my tenant could theoretically continue to stay. How is that fair or equitable? The pandemic has shifted to an endemic, employment opportunities are plentiful, our vaccination rate is high and vaccines are free at any drug store. There is no need to continue this blanket eviction moratorium for non payment of rent and taking away my ability to enforce my lease makes no sense.
Please de-couple the eviction moratorium from the local Covid 19 emergency declaration so that we can finally return to normal. It is not fair or equitable that I should shoulder all of the burden and responsibility of providing safe and affordable housing while receiving no compensation.
Thank you,
Tyler Werrin
1 Robles, Sandra
From: Robles, Sandra
Sent: Wednesday, April 6, 2022 9:40 AM
To: Robles, Sandra
Subject: FW: Council Meeting - April 11, 2022 Agenda Item - Lifting of Eviction Moratorium Sandra S. Robles, Assistant City Clerk | Office of the City Clerk D 626.744.7398 E [email protected].
100 N. GARFIELD AVENUE | PO BOX 7115 | PASADENA, CA 91109-7215 From: Lydia Lim
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2022 11:14 AM
To: [email protected]; Madison, Steve <[email protected]>; Suzuki, Takako <[email protected]>
Subject: Council Meeting - April 11, 2022 Agenda Item - Lifting of Eviction Moratorium CAUTION: This email was delivered from the Internet. Do not click links or open attachments unless you know the content is safe. Report phish using the Phish Alert Button. Learn more....
Dear Councilmembers:
I have been informed by Takako Suzuki, assistant to Councilmember Madison, that on April 11th, the City Council will be discussing lifting of City's moratorium on evictions as a result of non-payment of rent due to COVID-19 hardship, which went into effect in March, 2020. I have requested information regarding speaking to the Council but was directed by Ms. Suzuki to send an email to the City Council for its consideration in deliberating upon this matter.
My sister and I have owned a condominium in Pasadena (465 S. Robles Ave. #10) since 2001. In 2015, after 14 years of living in the property, we decided to lease it as my sister had become a mother and moved away and I had relocated to Santa Monica. In 2020, my father passed away.
While the County's moratorium provided an exception to owners who wished to reoccupy their units for themselves or their family members, the City's moratorium does not include such an exception. As a result, even though it has been our family's strong preference, we have not been able to regain possession of the unit for my mother since my father's passing. I recently contacted my tenant to discuss a buy-out of her lease, and am still waiting to hear back from her, so at this point, I'm not yet certain of the feasibility of that option.
Since masking requirements have largely been lifted in Los Angeles County, COVID infection rates in the City appear (from City's Health Department website today) to be approximately 1392 people out of a population of 141,000+, or less than 01% of total population, rental assistance programs have been available through the City, County and state, employment levels are strong (approximately 95% 1 employment in the City per available public information), vaccines are free and available to the entire country, and the Rose Parade and large gatherings it attracts was allowed to proceed this year, then unless the City can find a compelling reason to maintain the local emergency, it does not appear that such an emergency continues to exist and the eviction moratorium, which is based upon such an emergency, should be lifted.
I understand that some may counter that rents are high and that inflation is on the rise - I too am subject to these pressures, as a renter and consumer myself; however (a) inflation and high rents are not related to the public health crisis that is the basis of the local emergency and (b) given that the local emergency has been in place for over 2 years, and the fact that small landlords, such as myself, received no free mortgage assistance, no break on insurance, no abatement of maintenance expenses, no relief from property taxes, the ongoing inability to remove tenants from rental properties is a serious and ongoing hardship for people such as myself, and at this point, very inequitable.
While my tenants are now current in rent due to the various governmental programs in place, I have not and will not receive any compensation for thousands of dollars in daily interest charges I've accrued on my mortgage due to rents that are consistently late for weeks, and there is no form of compensation I can receive for my inability to provide housing for my mother in an arrangement that is workable for our family, not to mention that I myself have to pay rent when I actually have a home that I could otherwise live in and want to live in with my mother.
Unprecedented governmental efforts have been made and have succeeded in addressing the pandemic and it is no longer equitable to small landlords for the City to maintain an eviction moratorium in place for an emergency that no longer exists. Please consider lifting the local emergency and the ban on evictions due to COVID-19 as soon as possible, or at the very least, I strongly urge you to create an exemption for owners who would like to reoccupy their units for themselves or family members, as the County has done, immediately.
I respectfully submit the above, which I trust you will consider judiciously. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Very truly yours,
Lydia M. Lim, Esq
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2 Robles, Sandra
From: Tyler Werrin
Sent: Wednesday, April 6, 2022 4:54 PM
To: Public Comment
Subject: End the Pasadena Eviction Moratorium
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Hello,
I'm a Pasadena resident; I live at 1570 N Los Robles, a duplex. When my wife and I purchased our property (our first home) in late 2020, it was our intent to live in one unit and rent out the other to help offset the costs of property taxes and our mortgage.
There was an existing tenant living in the other unit when we took ownership; due to the CDC eviction moratorium, we were unable to relocate the tenant at that time.
Pretty much immediately, our tenant stopped paying their rent. That was 1.5 years ago. Ever since, I have relied on the California Rental Relief Program (ERAP, otherwise known as Housing is Key) to pay the rent we desperately need to keep the property afloat. While the program was frustratingly slow in making payments, they eventually arrived and our bills were paid.
However, on March 31st, 2022, ERAP program closed its doors; there will be no more funding available to tenants or landlords.
However, the Pasadena eviction moratorium continues:
https://www.cityofpasadena.net/housing/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/Eviction-Moratorium-FAQ- Janurary2021.pdf
My tenant has informed me that they will not be paying rent and will not leave until I take them to court; as the local eviction moratorium prevents me from doing this for non-payment of rent, there is very little I can do. I can't even pursue the back rent in court until 6 months after the expiration of the local ordinance, which currently has no end date. Even if I were to eventually receive a favorable judgement it is extremely unlikely that I will be able to recoup a single penny through small claims court as my tenant has no assets and her income comes from SSDI.
Meanwhile, I am expected to continue paying my property taxes, mortgage and maintain the property. There is no relief coming for me and countless others like me.
I urge and implore the Council to end the eviction moratorium. It is unfair and unreasonable that I am forced to house this individual at my expense into an indeterminate future, incurring thousands upon thousands of dollars of debt along the way. The Pandemic is winding down; vaccinations are widely available and free. The economy is fully open - you can even go to the gym without a mask! The nearly two years of free rent that tenants received thanks to ERAP should be more than enough to get them back on their feet.
Please help me.
1 Sincerely,
Tyler Werrin
Robles, Sandra
From: Robles, Sandra
Sent: Thursday, April 7, 2022 2:08 PM
To: Robles, Sandra
Subject: FW: Pasadena Eviction Moratorium
On Apr 7, 2022, at 1:47 PM, Amelia Weldon<
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Hello,
My name is Amelia Weldon and I am a Pasadena resident and landlord of a 1 bedroom rental unit that is also on the property where I live (about 15 ft from my back door). When we purchased the property in 2020, the tenant was already occupying the unit.
Initially our tenant was working (food delivery) but once she found out that the government would cover her rent, she stopped working and refused to make any effort to pay her rent. While ERAP did help us somewhat, because the program was run through tenants, it was very difficult to get our tenant to complete their side of things in a timely manner. On top of that, the program was extraordinarily slow to pay us. Yes, the money came, but if it's 6 months late, we are still having to cover all of our expenses (including property taxes, mortgage and maintenance on the unit, not to mention our own home) in the meantime. As we were struggling to meet all of these requirements, I was unable to help my own family financially and was instead forced to watch our tenant come home with a new car, phone and shopping bags full of new clothes.
This situation has put a huge strain on my family and it feels as though we are being treated like criminals by virtue of owning one small rental unit -a property that we took on to help cover our property taxes and mortgage. What exactly have I done to deserve this treatment by the government? What makes my experience as a homeowner and landlord less important than our tenant's? As far as I can tell, the only group of people shouldering the burden of this eviction moratorium are small landlords and it begs the question, why is the government doing this? When we called the ERAP program in the hope of getting help, we were told to hire a lawyer or take out a loan. How does that make sense? With what money am I to hire a lawyer and why exactly am I being expected to go into further debt because the government hasn't met their responsibility in a situation it created?
1 Now that ERAP has stopped paying rental assistance, our tenant is saying that they will stay (with no intention of paying us rent) until the eviction moratorium expires. When I pointed out that they will owe us all of their back rent starting April 1,2022, she laughed in my face and said "good luck on trying to collect anything from me." After providing clean and safe housing to this person for 1.5 years, my tenant is laughing at me with the government's endorsement because I expect to be paid for a service I provide. This situation is just cruel.
This moratorium is in essence punishing small landlords for providing housing during a housing crisis. To continue the moratorium when vaccines are available and life is returning to normal makes no sense. Everyone who has an interest in returning to work has done so. If our tenant was working but was struggling to make the rent, we would be willing to work with them because we are decent people. That isn't the case though. Our tenant is taking advantage of the eviction moratorium so she can use her money on other things like a new car and clothes.
When this is all over (if it ever ends), landlords are not going to forget how the government handled this and saddled them with the entirety of the burden and this is going to choke the housing supply further. If the government is really worried about keeping people in their housing, allow landlords to evict tenants who are unwilling to pay their rent so prospective renters who want to contribute to our communities have housing to rent. At the very least, the nuisance clause should be removed from the eviction moratorium framework. In our case, our tenant has harassed us and ran over and killed our family cat with her car because she was driving too fast and erratically down our narrow driveway. When we tried to talk to our tenant about what happened she threatened us. This eviction moratorium is creating unsafe living environments for landlords that live on the property with their tenants. How is this fair and right? Who does this help? Why is this burden being placed EXCLUSIVELY on landlords? What is the end game here?
I am begging the Council to end the eviction moratorium. It is disgusting that I am being forced to house someone (at my expense and incurring additional debt by the day) who refuses to work, threatens me and has killed my pet with no recourse. Please help us by ending this eviction moratorium so we can find some peace and sense of safety. While we are landlords, we are still people and we deserve the council's consideration.
Amelia Weldon
Amelia Weldon, MA, CCRP, PMP
2 PASADENA i FOOTHILLS
1070 E. Green Street, Suite 100 REALTORS• (626) 795-2455 Pasadena, CA 91106 [email protected]
Dear Members of the City Council:
The Pasadena-Foothills Association of Realtors represents many of your constituents as buyers, sellers, renters, and housing providers. Many of our members, in addition to being Realtors, own or manage rental properties in Pasadena. To be frank, we are concerned that there is an endless continuation of Pasadena's eviction moratorium. We have patiently waited for the Council to make responsible decisions for all parties in Pasadena. We hoped you would find a reasonable solution to what has become an overwhelming burden for our mom-and-pop housing providers.
We are now more than a year past being patient. We respectfully ask that you review the standing emergency ordinance related to COVID-19, separate the supplement related to the ongoing eviction moratorium, and provide an end date as to when it will officially end. P::.P:
The emergency order and eviction moratorium have been in place since March of 2020. Many of our small housing providers have yet to receive financial compensation since that period. No other industry has been forced to endure these hardships. The city has opened for dining.
Children are no longer required to wear masks in schools. We are not even required to show proof of vaccination, yet small mom-and-pop landlords are still struggling to collect rent. There are no protections for their mortgages. That safety net went away months ago, but we are still providing protections to those that have the means to pay rents and have opted not to do so.
This moratorium only creates a mechanism to abuse the system. An honest person could have developed COVID-19 in April of 2020. That same person could have used a COVID waiver to legitimately cover their rent. That same person could now be gainfully employed and still rely on that COVID-19 protection. When is enough, enough? Show some support to the housing providers. They had very few champions in their corner. They have provided shelter for more than two years and will continue to do so. Pasadena did not consider a utilities moratorium at the height of COVID-19, but we expect these small housing providers to carry the brunt of the city's responsibilities. We need to do better.
Now is the time to decouple the eviction moratorium. We are no longer in a state of emergency. Our hospitals are not overflowing. People are going back to work. The streets are crowded, and the freeways are at a standstill. We must move forward. Allow housing providers to start piecing their livelihoods back together.
We look forward to your thoughtful consideration to your other constituents that are in desperate need of the Council's support.
Sarah Moore
Sarah Moore
2022 President
Pasadena-Foothills REALTORS®
pg. 2