You might’ve heard that the last of the Covid-19 tenant eviction protections expire Aug. 29. But what does that mean?
The bottom line: Tenants are no longer automatically protected against eviction for failing to pay rent because of the pandemic, if the rent was due on or after Aug. 29. Previously, covid protections meant nonpayment of rent during certain periods of the pandemic was not a cause for eviction. That will no longer be the case on Tuesday.
Mission Local spoke with Ora Prochovnick, the director of litigation and policy at the Eviction Defense Collaborative, and Aitran Doan, the tenants’ network coordinator at the SF Anti-Displacement Coalition, to learn about what happens next.
What’s happening to San Francisco’s Covid-19 tenant protections Aug. 29?
After the statewide covid eviction moratorium ended in July 2022, the Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance stating San Francisco tenants couldn’t be evicted for owing rent during certain periods of the pandemic. But for rent due on or after Aug. 29, that’s no longer the case.
It’s important to note that it does not mean a tenant is automatically evicted — that can only be decided in court.
Technically, only the state has the power to implement an eviction moratorium, in which landlords are restricted from even initiating the legal eviction process, Prochovnick said.
However, the local covid tenant protection meant that if a landlord tried to evict a tenant over pandemic debt, the tenant and their lawyer could argue that the local ordinance supported their case. This has been happening and leading to settlements.
“It’s more of a defense,” Prochovnick said.
That protection began in July 2022 and expires Aug. 29.
Why is this protection expiring now?
Once the state eviction moratorium ended in July 2022, the Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that stated to not evict any tenant for nonpayment of pandemic rent between July 1, 2022 until 60 days after the emergency was over.
Aug. 29 “was 60 days after the Mayor’s Covid-19 emergency ended,” Prochovnick said.
What happens if the rent owed in a nonpayment eviction was due after Aug. 29?
The ordinance does not restrict eviction for pandemic-related nonpayment of rent on or after Aug. 29, 2023. Determination of the eviction depends on a case-by-case basis.
Does this mean landlords can now evict someone for overdue rent if it was due before Aug. 29?
Not necessarily. The tenant protection still stands for nonpayment evictions, as long as the rent was due during the eligible time-period of July 1, 2022 and Aug. 29, 2023, Prochovnick said, meaning tenants could still use the argument that nonpayment evictions were locally prohibited.
Do you expect to see a dramatic jump in evictions after Aug. 29, when the local Covid-19 rent protections end?
Doan and Prochovnick both said we could see upticks in evictions, but nothing too dramatic yet. That’s because the biggest nonpayment eviction wave happened after the state moratorium, which ended in July 2022, expired.
“The San Francisco law never prevented the serving of papers. The flooding of cases — we’re already in it,” Prochovnick said. “It happened almost a year ago.”
Doan has a different concern: “Normally, what we see is an uptick in harassment,” she said. “Any tactic to make tenants move off on their own.”
Analysis of city eviction notice data from July 2022 to July 2023 confirms that August 2022 saw the most addresses hit with nonpayment eviction filings — some 85. In recent months, the number has stood at 10 or fewer.
Eviction notices shot up when the state moratorium ended in August 2022.
220
200
180
160
Non-payment notices
140
120
100
80
60
40
Other notices
20
0
Jun
July
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
2022
2023
Eviction notices shot up when the state
moratorium ended in August 2022.
220
200
180
160
Non-payment notices
140
120
100
80
60
40
Other notices
20
0
Sep
Nov
Jan
Mar
May
July
2022
2023
Chart by Will Jarrett. Data from the San Francisco Rent Board.
What should tenants facing this issue do?
“No one needs to move or sign anything before getting help,” Doan said. In San Francisco, tenants have the right to free counsel, and there’s at least eight clinics across the city associated with the San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition.
“There’s a whole robust network of tenant protections.”
Other things one should know?
A landlord can still file a civil action against a tenant who owed rent between July 1, 2022, and Aug. 29, 2023, and demand the rent be paid back, even if the landlord can’t evict them.
Find more information here. The San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition website is here. The Eviction Defense Collaborative website is here.
Romans danced and fiddled while the city burned. Savanarola tried to clean up Florence which followed Rome and now San Francisco is liking itself to the days of Florence. Pompei had a good time too until the underworld spirits belched a bit and that settled the matter for thousands of years. Nobody likes to pay rent and even if justly due, why bother when one is protected by the state in its action. Doom loop whatever that means is nothing to the real day of reckoning which is slowly developing.
we have had it too good in san francisco that its about all of us suffered mutually.