Citing the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and noting that half the city’s 26,000 residents are renters, the South Pasadena Tenants Union on Monday called on the City of South Pasadena to declare an emergency and implement a temporary moratorium on evictions and a 60-day suspension of water and sewage penalties and shutoffs.
The city said it is already Waiving Utility Shutoffs at this time.
“In addition to those sick or quarantined, hourly employees, food service and hospitality workers, parents taking leave to care for children during school closures, students who work part time—many residents are only one paycheck away from potentially losing their homes,” said SPTU co-founder Anne Bagasao. “Public health crises such as this should not be compounded by economic ones.”
The group wants City Manager Stephanie DeWolfe, acting as the City’s Director of Emergency Services under Municipal Code Chapter 11.6, to unilaterally put the moratorium in place or barring that, to put the matter on the agenda for the City’s March 18 council meeting.
The cities of Los Angeles, West Hollywood and Santa Monica have already taken such action, the SPTU noted. Other cities in U.S. are considering doing so.
Bagasao and SPTU’s other co-founder John Srebalus, who together helped push for the emergency eviction moratorium ordinance the city approved last November in the wake of a surge of 60-day notices following state passage of the Tenant Protection Act, drafted two proclamations that would formally declare an emergency and put the new moratorium in place immediately.
The group said it broached the idea of issuing the proclamations with the City over the weekend, after the President declared a national emergency Friday, but had not heard back by mid-day Monday. “We respectfully insist that you issue them both immediately,” SPTU co-founder John Srebalus wrote in a Sunday afternoon email to the Council and city officials.
“We are now facing an international crisis that could potentially affect South Pasadena and adversely impact our at-risk citizens,” local renter Anny Celsi wrote in a note that SPTU said was sent to the City. “I urge the Council to consider an extended renters’ protection ordinance during this crisis…We should stand by our neighbors whose incomes may be impacted and who stand in danger of eviction.”
“We are already waiving utility shutoffs during this time,” South Pasadena spokesperson Rachel McGuire told the South Pasadenan News Monday. She was working to supply a response to questions concerning the city’s reaction to SPTU’s request and said the city, which has cancelled most other events, is still planning to hold the regular City Council session Wednesday night.
