Costa Mesa passes law to end unfair evictions, stem rising tide of displaced residents, families
An urgency ordinance approved Tuesday by the Costa Mesa City Council aims to protect rental tenants — estimated to comprise 60% of the city’s population — who face eviction through no fault of their own.
The new law, which takes effect immediately, widens the safety net for tenants whose landlords have asked them to vacate to accommodate substantial renovations, the sale of a property or to provide housing for landlords or their family members.
“This ordinance has one goal — and it’s a goal that everyone, regardless of what side of the line you find yourself on, can agree with — and that’s that no Costa Mesa family would ever be evicted into homelessness,” said Nate Robbins, the city’s neighborhood improvement manager.
Robbins described an eviction crisis seen by officials in recent months. Between July 1 and Oct. 16, a total of 41 households reported receiving eviction notices. In the nine days that followed, news of another 22 evictions, impacting 76 people, reached City Hall.
The city was contacted on Oct. 27 by Newport-Mesa Unified School District regarding four school families that had been forced from their homes and were living on the street. Officials estimate that, at the current rate, the city will see another 160 to 170 evictions in the next year.
Robbins said many people leave upon receiving an eviction notice, whether the issuance complies with existing state and local laws or not.
“Several of those families actually had a case to extend their tenancy because the notice they received was completely invalid,” he added.
City officials distinguish such no-fault evictions from at-fault notices, which may be issued for failure to pay rent, causing a nuisance or breach of contract.
To help stem the tide of families being displaced from their homes, the new law allocates $300,000 of the city’s $3.5 million remaining federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to help rental assistance organizations already working in the city expand services to tenants facing evictions.
Another $250,000 in one-time ARPA funding will go toward rental-related legal services, including court filings and enforcement of the new ordinance.
It further requires all landlords to provide a 60-day notice to tenants, requires them to provide the tenant with one month of fair market value rent and to inform the city of the eviction within three days of issuing an eviction notice.
Costa Mesa, where 60% of residents rent, has the fourth highest eviction rate in Orange County. City leaders hope to change that by drafting rules to protect tenants from unfair practices by landlords.
An additional three employees — an outreach worker, senior planner and code enforcement officer — will also be added to the city’s payroll at an annual cost of about $600,000 to implement and enforce the new regulations.
Many of the provisions made Tuesday are designed to speed up, or to expand upon, a new state law passed in September — Senate Bill 567.
Set to take effect in April, the statewide mandate prevents property owners from displacing low-income tenants, only to replace them with new ones, by requiring landlords to provide notification and proof of substantial renovations or the names of family members moving in, who must reside there for 12 months.
After hearing from numerous residents, tenants and property owners, along with several questions and substitute motions, council members eventually reached the requisite 6-1 vote needed for passage.
Councilman Don Harper, casting the lone dissenting vote, aired skepticism about how much of an effort the city made to understand the issue from landlords’ points of view.
“I don’t like penalizing property owners who may have put their life savings into something, and then we penalize them when it’s not needed,” he said.
Costa Mesa Councilman Manuel Chavez, who initially requested the city consider an eviction ordinance before SB 567 was signed into law, said despite its speediness and expansion upon state laws, the new regulation just begins to address the true need in the community.
“I do think this is the bare minimum,” he said.
Councilwoman Arlis Reynolds said she was glad to see the city move upstream in its effort to end homelessness, progressing from the most at-risk residents upward to preventing displacement for renters.
“This may or may not be the perfect solution — we’ve iterated on our homelessness solutions, we can iterate on this — but it’s erring on the side of supporting our residents of Costa Mesa,” she said.
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