SAN FRANCISCO—On September 23, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order that would extend the current commercial eviction moratorium, which means that tenants affected by the coronavirus pandemic are protected from eviction until the end of March 2021. The previous authorization was originally set to expire at the end of September, which prior to this extension, made numerous tenants and businesses face possible eviction.
The moratorium was first passed on August 31. “COVID-19 has impacted everyone in California- but some bear much more of the burden that others, especially tenants struggling to stitch together the monthly rent, and they deserve protection from eviction. This new law protects tenants from eviction for non-payment of rent and helps keep homeowners out of foreclosure as a result of economic hardship caused by this terrible pandemic,” Newsom wrote in a public statement on August 31.
According to the law, tenants will still be responsible for paying any outstanding amounts to landlords, but these amounts cannot be a reason for eviction. If a tenant encounters a financial hardship related to the COVID-19 pandemic, they can provide a declaration of hardship to the city, according to the legislation’s timeline, and be safe from eviction. Tenants are still encouraged to pay at least 25 percent of the monthly rent in order to avoid any means for eviction.
After the order was issued, San Francisco Mayor London Breed confirmed on Twitter that she would extend Newsom’s order until March 2021, as now allowed. “We will be extending our local eviction moratorium here in SF to keep small businesses stable as we continue on the road to recovery. Losing these protection would have been devastating for struggling small businesses,” Breed tweeted on September 23.
