Sick, elderly, pregnant: the California renters being evicted even during the pandemic

[turbinetree]

When Covid-19 halted California’s economy, state officials promised to prevent evictions and defend tenants’ rights. But a dozen renters and their attorneys told the Guardian that some landlords are proceeding to expel them from their homes despite the new regulations, indicating there are significant gaps in the protections.

Those tenants include a pregnant woman, a cancer patient, an elderly woman, a mother of six, several newly unemployed low-wage workers and others vulnerable to Covid-19.

Unable to pay rent in April, they have faced eviction notices on their doors, police officers attempting to remove them, pressure from property owners to immediately vacate and written demands from landlords spreading falsehoods about the emergency laws. Some tenants said they were moving out as a result, becoming homeless amid a pandemic.

“We want to pay, but we don’t have the money,” said Virginia Gómez, a 51-year-old Los Angeles woman threatened with eviction from her home of three years. The property owner of her building last week repeatedly called police to try to remove her and her six children after she couldn’t immediately pay full rent due. “I told the police, ‘You guys are wearing masks and gloves, but you want to throw us out to the streets when the virus is out there?’ How are we supposed to ‘stay at home’ when they kick us out?”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/17/sick-elderly-pregnant-the-california-renters-being-evicted-even-during-the-pandemic

[roamer65]

1. Gov Newsom needs to enforce his eviction moratorium.

[turbinetree]

2. You would hope so..........this is just disgusting these landlords which are huge realty companies

in most cases are really deplorable.................
I remember when I lived out there I had to give first and last month rent, plus a deposit for damages, and when I added it all together I said I could put this on down payment for small home...............then I transferred.............

[onecaliberal]

3. We heard about the gaps two weeks ago. Why is this still happening.

[gopiscrap]

4. there should be a law that any land lord doing an illegal eveiction during

the virus should automatically have to forfeit their property. With sale funds going to house the homeless