Alameda County supervisor hopefuls side-stepped eviction moratorium question

Sheng Thao fails Ballot Measure Econ 101

Alameda County supervisorial candidates Lena Tam and Rebecca Kaplan at a candidate forum this week.

ELECTION 2022

Days until Election Day: 46. Days until ballots are sent: 17.

—EVICTION MORATORIUM—Alameda County’s ongoing eviction moratorium is presently the biggest story in countywide government. Two Alameda County supervisors want to end the moratorium that was enacted two and half years ago at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. But the five-member Board of Supervisors needs three votes to move it forward.

—The moratorium may be rescinded of its own at the end of this year. If it doesn’t, the winner of this fall’s Alameda County Board of Supervisors race in District 3 could go far in deciding the moratorium’s short-term fate.

—But at a candidate forum this week featuring the District 3 November runoff candidates Rebecca Kaplan and Lena Tam, both avoided giving a clear answer for ending the eviction moratorium.

—Kaplan, instead, railed against the state for breaking its promise to pay rent and associated costs to tenants and landlords. “Tenants are in terror that they might be evicted any day,” Kaplan said. “There are tenants wasting hundreds of hours, making phone calls, filling paperwork to get that promised rental assistance.”

—While the county has fulfilled a large number of applications for the reimbursement of rents, landlords earlier this year, blasted the county for the slow pace of moving the money out, and strong criticism for a number of applications that were turned away after a state deadline had passed. In addition, the application process is initiated by tenants, not owners.

—“Every application should be paid,” Kaplan said. “Landlords should be able to apply directly.” Kaplan added that she supports providing bridge funding to cover gaps in rental assistance so all outstanding needs can be paid.”

—Tam, who is backed by real estate interests, said, “We desperately need to see more funding and a more streamlined approach to make sure that we can deal with this debt that both tenants and the landlords are accruing.” When the eviction moratorium does come to an end, Tam said the county needs to understand the lesson learned, what works, and what needs to be done.

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