We the undersigned residents and neighbors of the City of Alameda urge the City Council and Mayor to adopt a 90-day urgency ordinance by December 6 prohibiting no cause and no fault evictions over the winter holidays. This emergency 90-day moratorium is necessary to preserve the public peace, health, and safety of the community and to prevent further evictions and displacement of tenants.

Section Sec. 3-12 of the City Charter authorizes the City Council to introduce and adopt an ordinance for the immediate preservation of public peace, health or safety and in the event of great emergency or necessity by four votes of the Council.

36 evictions have been filed between April and September 2016 according to the Rent Review Advisory Committee (RRAC) monthly reports. RRAC has not released its October report, but over the last several weeks, in anticipation of the November 8 local election results, the Alameda Renters Coalition has received at least 10 cases of families reporting no cause or no fault eviction notices.

Approximately 40 Alamedans are at risk of being evicted over the winter holidays. 15 are children, ages 5-16, who attend Alameda schools. Some residents are single parents. One is a 30-year Alameda resident. Several residents are seniors on fixed incomes. Three residents are disabled; one has cerebral palsy and another has multiple sclerosis. One resident is battling cancer while fighting a rent increase and possible eviction.

Staff discussions, testimony, and documentary evidence presented at City Council meetings dating as far back as November 2015 and as recently as November 15, 2016 supports the basis of the findings and actions set forth in this proposed urgency ordinance. RRAC anticipates an influx in rent increase and termination filings for the next few months. RRAC has also acknowledged that tenants seem to have less awareness than landlords about Ordinance No. 3148. A lot more eviction cases would be filed with RRAC if the forms were available for direct online submission as promised since April.

There is precedent for an urgency ordinance addressing evictions over the winter holidays. On November 4, 2015, the City Council unanimously voted to adopt an urgency ordinance prohibiting no cause evictions. Council members stressed the importance of tenants’ need for stability and predictability. Mayor Trish Herrera Spencer stated that Council’s action was an important first step in addressing no cause evictions.

However, because the City of Alameda has failed to regulate the reasons for evictions from residential rental housing to date, certain aspects of public peace, health, and safety are not adequately protected due to the lack of regulation of the reason for evictions from residential rental housing in the City of Alameda. Families should not have to spend the winter holidays worrying about whether they will have a place to sleep.

In light of the numerous concerns noted here and the current and immediate threat to the public peace, health, and safety of the City’s residents and the adverse impacts that would result from no cause and no fault evictions within the City and displacement of City residents, we the undersigned residents of the City of Alameda urge the City Council and Mayor to declare this emergency moratorium necessary to preserve the public peace, health, and safety of the community by adopting an urgency ordinance in order to prevent further evictions and displacement of tenants.

#StopHolidayEvictions