COVID-19: Local, State, and Federal Emergency Housing Policy

COUNTY OF SONOMA

• On April 4, 2020, California counties announced that they will use their authority to waive penalties for homeowners, small business owners, and other property owners who are unable to afford their property taxes by the April 10 property tax deadline.
• On March 24, 2020, the County of Sonoma Board of Supervisors approved the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Ordinance that suspends evictions for non-payment of rent for reasons associated with the coronavirus. The ordinance takes effect immediately and last for 60 days after the end of the local public health emergency, allowing tenants time to make up unpaid rent.
  • The Board will revisit the policy on June 2, 2020.

SONOMA COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT

• As of March 24, 2020, all eviction and foreclosure injunction hearings currently scheduled have been postponed 30 to 45 days from the date currently set.
• The Sonoma County Sheriff will not enforce evictions during the shelter-in-place order.

CALIFORNIA

• On April 6, 2020 the Judicial Council – the policymaking body of the California Courts – approved a new emergency court rule that stops all evictions and judicial foreclosures for the duration of coronavirus pandemic, except for those necessary to protect public health and safety. The rule applies to all courts and to all eviction cases and judicial foreclosures, whether they are based on a tenant’s missed payment or for other reason. This ruling does not apply to non-judicial foreclosures, which constitute the majority of foreclosures, that are conducted by third-parties outside of the courthouse. The rule applies up until 90 days after the Governor lifts the state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic. For further detail, click here.
• On March 27, 2020, Governor Newsom issued an executive order banning enforcement of eviction orders for renters affected by COVID-19, effectively immediately and running through May 31, 2020.  The order requires tenants to declare in writing, no more than 7 days comes due, that the tenant cannot pay all or part of the rent due to the coronavirus.
  • However, the executive order is not a moratorium on evictions. Simply, the order ensures that an eviction order cannot be enforced during this time period, but may be enforced immediately after (i.e. June 1, 2020).
  • Gov Newsom stated that this state executive order is an overlay and does not preempt the actions taken by the County of Sonoma, which has already passed an eviction defense ordinance with a time period of protection beyond that of the state’s (as noted in previous section).
• On March 25, 2020, Governor Newsom announced that financial institutions will provide significant relief to homeowners. The relief may involve communication with your financial institution to apply benefits, which include the following:
  • A 90-day mortgage forbearance period
  • No negative credit impacts resulting from the relief
  • Moratorium on initiating foreclosure sales or evictions
  • No fees or charges for customers (e.g. mortgage-related late fees)
• The California Public Utilities Commission issued an order requiring all privately owned water, sewer, energy providers to maintain service to all customers and suspend service disconnections, including those struggling to pay their service fees due to COVID-19.
  • In Sonoma County, this includes PG&E and Sonoma Clean Power.
  • These protections extend back to March 4th, when California declared a State of Emergency. In other words, if you have had trouble paying your bills since March 4th, then these companies are not allowed to cut off your service.

UNITED STATES

• The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) encouraged all telecoms companies to pledge for the next 60 days to not terminate service to any residential or small business customer due to inability to pay, waive any late fees, and open Wi-Fi hotspots to all people who need them.
  • Local telecom providers like AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Comcast have signed the pledge.
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a 60-day moratorium on evictions and foreclosures, but it only appliesto single-family homes with a mortgage from the Federal Housing Administration.
  • In addition, HUD has encouraged Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) to issue their own eviction moratoria, as the agency does not have the power to protect renters in local PHAs without Congressional approval.
• The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be offering multifamily property owners mortgage forbearance on the condition that they suspend all evictions for renters unable to pay rent due to the impact of coronavirus.

DATA TOOLS

COVID-19 Emergency Tenant Protections

• See where local, state, and federal officials have passed (or communities are working to pass) emergency tenant protections during the COVID-19 crisis. Click on map below to learn more.

If there are any additional housing policies related to COVID-19 that you’re aware of but were not included in this update, please email us at info@generationhousing.org