NATIONAL CITY, Calif. (KGTV) — The National City Council voted to have staff continue to look into and work on a potential emergency ordinance related to renters impacted by the flooding.
The initial proposal that the Council discussed Tuesday night was relocation assistance, stopping rent hikes, and tenants' right to return to the homes they lost due to the recent flooding.
"So we were displaced because of the flood. It's understandable so damage of dry wall and stuff like that. But what wasn't understandable was that the same management use that excuse to go ahead and try to evict us,” Jocelyn Lopez, Highland View Apartment Complex Resident
ABC 10News spoke with Lopez last month, some of her neighbors who lived at the Highland View Apartment complex, and others who said they received eviction notices from the property management after the flooding.
"We would want more protection as tenants and to stop evictions of any type of crisis that is going on,” Lopez said.
Highland View Apartments said in a statement that it is not evicting victims of the flooding from its units.
"Ownership never served eviction notices on tenants following the flooding," the statement reads. "Tenants were provided with notice of the city's decision to red tag a portion of the building due to habitability issues caused by the flooding."
You can read the full statement from the apartment complex below:
Councilmember Jose Rodriguez’s been pushing for an ordinance to stop evictions and rent increases in the community after the floods.
The county has approved a 60-day eviction moratorium in areas hit the hardest, including National City.
The hope is to add more protection after that.
"So we want to make sure that tenants have the peace of mind that they're going to be able to come back. And we can have a local ordinance in place to assure that they have the opportunity to come back even after the next 30 days,” Rodriguez said.
Some voiced their opposition to a proposed ordinance.
"We understand with the desire for stability. But we believe further action today is duplicative of State law and the current County moratorium,” Melanie Woods of the California Apartment Association said.
"All this is not to say protecting impacted tenants isn't important, it is. But the protections are already there. Whether it be the County moratorium, the emergency declarations from the State and local governments, existing laws or binding rental contracts,” Molly Kirkland, Southern California Rental Housing Association
Rodriguez said he wishes the city could've done something similar for these renters sooner.
"I do believe that it's our job as a local entity to make sure that we provide them that protection. And at the same time, help the landlords, as we've done right now and will continue to do, to make sure that they get their units back up to speed so that tenants can come back,” Rodirguez said.
The council voted unanimously to have staff continue to review data and create possible language for the ordinance to be reviewed by the council at a later meeting.
