The outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis has business owners closing doors and laying off employees. California is faced with an extreme crisis. How are our citizens going to pay rent and or mortgages? We are asking for a freeze similar to what Italy has mandated the suspension of all rents, mortgages, and property taxes until the COVID-19 pandemic is over with. Doing so will allow our citizens to stay home without the added concern of loosing their business and housing plus limit the spread of the virus. This needs to be acted upon immediately.

An eviction freeze will not solve the problem. Businesses and laid-off employees will not be able to afford these payments at a later date so allowing rent, mortgages, and property tax to be paid retroactively will not be an option. We believe it is in the common good to create a state-wide rent, mortgage, and property tax freeze on all business and residential properties.

California has some of the most costly areas to live in the country. Without our businesses open and jobs lost we need to freeze the rents and mortgages now, not later, not next month, but now to avoid a major financial crisis in our county.

We demand therefore that California enforce a rent, mortgage, and property tax freeze immediately until the COVID-19 crisis passes, until there are tests that show this is no longer a threat to all of us until our businesses are open and our employees are back working.