By Post Staff

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors this week refused to review the county’s ongoing eviction moratorium, which means the pandemic-passed tenant protections will expire at the end of April. Supervisors also voted down three tenant protection bills backed by pro-tenant groups.

Dozens of landlords and tenant activists showed up Tuesday for the board meeting with competing demands, where supervisors said there was no point in discussing whether to lift the moratorium since a ban could go into effect only a few days before the current moratorium is set to expire on April 29.

Board members also rejected three tenant protection ordinances, which had appeared likely to pass before recent changes in the composition of the board.

Supervisors said they sought to balance the concerns of landlords upset by the almost three-year eviction ban and desperate needs of tenants struggling to survive in the midst of rampant inflation and high rents.

“We need to focus on the future and what that looks like, instead of continuing to stay in the ring and battling it out on this issue,” said Supervisor Keith Carson, quoted by Bay City News Group (BCN) online.

Supervisor David Haubert had supported ending the moratorium but said there was little reason to vote on it at this late date.

“Now it seems rather moot if we put this item on a future agenda,” Haubert said, quoted by BCN.

There are reports across the Bay Area of a large upsurge in eviction lawsuits after pandemic tenant protections came to an end.

However, eviction protections remain in effect in Oakland, which will continue at least through March; San Leandro, with eviction safeguards lasting until next February; and Berkeley, with protections for many renters until the end of August.

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