If you can’t work, you can’t pay rent. Gov. Newsom must halt coronavirus evictions

Gov. Newsom, meet the Sues.

Sue Frost and Sue Peters sit on the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. They can usually be counted on to do wrong by working families and the poor.

When some heartless Sacramento County landlords started evicting tenants after you signed a statewide rent control bill last year, the Sues cruelly blocked a measure stop them. They made sure that your signature on that bill resulted in direct pain for struggling families who live just a few miles from you.

Now, they’re doing it again. On Tuesday, the Sues voted against an emergency ordinance to prevent tenants in the county from getting evicted due to the economic devastation of the coronavirus.

The measure by Supervisor Phil Serna would have ensured that “tenants in unincorporated communities who can prove they’ve been financially impacted by the virus have up to 120 days, or about four months, after the state of emergency declaration ends to pay deferred rent,” according to a Bee story by Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks.

Given current events, this was a reasonable proposal. But the Sues shot it down. Undeterred, Serna pushed through a resolution with the same language – “a clear expression of the county’s desire and hope” – but it lacks enforceability.

On Wednesday, Serna called a special meeting of the board and successfully passed an eviction ban on a 3-2 vote. Both Sues opposed it, with Peters suggesting that banning evictions was the job of the governor. As a result of the Sues’ opposition, the county’s ban won’t take effect until May, meaning people can still be evicted in April.

The situation unfolding in Sacramento County underscores the need for a statewide policy to halt evictions due to the COVID-19 shutdown. Without statewide action, many California residents will be left at the mercy of local officials like the Sues, whose lack of concern for the struggles of working people will mean more homeless Californians on our streets.

If you wish to build a “California for All,” it can’t be a place where struggling citizens are coldly disregarded by politically-backward local officials in some places while other citizens get the benefit of compassionate leadership in municipalities just a few miles away.

This is especially true when all Californians are under a stay-at-home order issued by the state’s top executive. You can’t issue a central mandate that forces people to forfeit their paychecks and then wash your hands of any responsibility to protect them from the consequences.

Would you prefer that people living in Republican-controlled counties start defying your order and returning to work so they don’t become homeless? It will be hard to blame them if you fail to act.

It’s time for an emergency statewide moratorium on evictions.

Editor’s note: This editorial has been updated to reflect the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors’ 3-2 passage of an eviction moratorium that won’t take effect until May.

This story was originally published March 25, 2020 at 12:44 PM with the headline "If you can’t work, you can’t pay rent. Gov. Newsom must halt coronavirus evictions."