Fairfax passes emergency eviction moratorium
The Fairfax Town Council has unanimously passed an emergency ordinance banning residential evictions without cause until Sept. 30.
“We are very thrilled,” said Councilmember Barbara Coler. “I’m particularly thrilled because I brought the renter protection ordinance to our council now and a few years ago. It’s a necessary item now because of COVID-19. We need to help people who are struggling in our town and in others.”
The ordinance mimics the eviction moratorium the Marin County Board of Supervisors passed at its last meeting, Town Manager Garrett Toy wrote in a report for the council. Toy said the ordinance “provides stability to the residential renter community in Fairfax who face ongoing impacts from COVID-19 by preventing evictions and late fees for nonpayment of rent due to COVID-19 financial loss.”
Garrett said renters and property owners can also get funding from federal, state and local sources. He said staff will monitor the situation and could request additional recommendations of the Town Council if infection rates increase.
Despite the existence of the county moratorium, the town needed its own to provide an extra level of help, Coler said. She said it was also imperative to add to the pandemic aid the town has already provided low-income renters through its rental assistance program, which provided grants of up to $2,500 last year.
Councilmember Chance Cutrano said that as a renter in Fairfax he is aware of the monthly concern of eviction.
“There are people in my apartment complex who have benefited from rental assistance Fairfax and the county provided,” Cutrano said. “This eviction moratorium is one more safety net we can provide renters as we are coming out of this pandemic and as we work toward a recovery for everybody.”
Fairfax resident Joe McGarry said the eviction ordinance is very much needed because the number of people who are faced with housing insecurity has increased during the pandemic.
“I think it’s refreshing to see elected officials, at this moment in time, not attempting to cover up all the fractures in the foundation of our society that came to the surface during the pandemic,” McGarry said. “It’s super-encouraging.”
He said the town should go a step further and prevent evictions outright.
“We are all being gaslit now by politicians who are telling us we didn’t see what we saw, which are just foundational problems of capitalism like people not earning livable wages, rising health care costs and mounting student debt,” he said. “So until all that’s done maybe evictions should stop.”
He said there is a growing community of homeless people in town who should also be entitled to help and not criminalized by law enforcement.
“I travel through downtown everyday. This year there are more faces in the early morning looking for place to get some sun. People who are trying to warm up,” he said. “There are more faces, so the issue is growing.”
Cutrano said homeless people who live in downtown or in the hills are a part of the community. He said while there are no plans to provide a safe place to camp, like those Sausalito has and San Rafael is considering, the town is looking to support the town’s unhoused population.
“We have a lot of people who are spread out,” he said. “It’s more disparate than the encampments in Novato, San Rafael and Sausalito. But we are trying to stay on top of that issue. There will be a large conversation in months to come about how to support them.”
The council passed the ordinance at its meeting on Wednesday.