DOWNEY - With the fate of many of Downey’s renters at stake, Downey City Council will meet next week to decide on if Downey will enact an emergency moratorium on no-fault evictions.

With Assembly Bill 1482 looming just a few weeks away, Tuesday evening was council’s chance to take its first steps in choosing if they want to intervene between the city’s landlords and potentially evicted tenants.

AB 1482 – which was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October and will take effect on Jan. 1 next year - imposes statewide rent control and prohibits no-fault evictions.

However, this has caused landlords in the region and statewide to try and beat the law’s implementation by evicting their tenants without cause, allowing them to preemptively raise the rent.

It was Council Member Sean Ashton who asked for the issue to be brought to the Council on Tuesday.

“I wanted to have our attorney give us a briefing as to some of the information that we’ve been given as to regards to similar ordinances in other cities,” said Ashton.

According to City Attorney Yyvette M. Abich Garcia, her office surveyed 16 cities. Garcia reported that she found a commonality between these cities, in that the application of such moratoriums protected tenants who were in possession of the premises and the notice of eviction has not expired.

“The heart and soul of these ordinances typically are listing of what the landlord can do with respect to eviction,” said Garcia. “It essentially prohibits the landlord from evicting tenants for no cause, for no reason. These ordinances lay out the criteria for which a landlord may evict a tenant, and some of those elements mirror the new law, AB 1482.”

An appropriate eviction could include default in payment of rent, nuisance, criminal or unlawful activity, breach of rental agreement or lease, amongst others.

Ashton’s request had already drawn the ire of Greater Downey Association of Realtors (DAOR), who threatened a lawsuit against the city should the council make any moves on the topic.

In a letter to Mayor Rick Rodriguez, DAOR President Dan Nevarez said the Realtor’s Association opposes AB 1482, and that any moratoriums put in place before it’s official roll out would “force [the DAOR] to take legal action and seek an injunction.”

For Downey to pass any such ordinance, it will require four out of five council members to vote for its approval. With Councilman Alex Saab absent and Rodriguez forced to abstain due to his status as a landlord in the city, council’s only options were to give some direction to staff, and push any official decision to a later date.

In the meantime, Council had to face down an emotional and frustrated group of residents who have showed up en masse to the last several council meetings, many of whom hail from the Eden Roc apartment complex.

Tenants from Eden Roc have accused their landlord of trying to unscrupulously evict or price out their residents over the last few months.

As has become the regular occurrence in past weeks, many of the group made use of the non-agenda and public agenda comment periods.

While some speakers attempted to appeal to the council’s empathetic side, others were aggressively angry, accusing council members of not caring about or ignoring their plight, or having ulterior or greedier motives to not take action.

Some speakers, who had previously taken part in a camp-out protest outside of Porto’s Bakery the night before, even went as far to threaten to do the same outside of each of the council members’ personal homes.

Many of these comments were met with cheers, applause, and outcries from the crowd.

With public comment carrying the meeting to near midnight, and the council and staff visibly worn down, battered, and fatigued, it was Councilwoman Claudia Frometa who spoke out, saying,

“We have not been disheartened, and we have not been desensitized…I’m not a stranger to your plight. When you accuse us of not listening to you, of not understanding your plight, I want you to know that this seat that I occupy right now, I sought it not because of power, but because of my desire to serve my community…The issue with housing is a much more complicated issue for cities. It is an issue that is grappling the entire state of California…”

“Yes, many of you have been here for several weeks with your cameras, with your phones, accusing us of a lot of different things…We are offering you a lot of different resources to help you.”

Frometa went on to say that she and her council colleagues would continue to have the conversation about a potential moratorium, however firmly put her foot down against what she described as “the mob mentality.”

“I have been listening to you, I have been paying attention to your plight; just because I don’t show up to a vigil one night doesn’t mean I don’t care…I am not going to be bullied or threatened by any type of charade you bring.”

“Let me be very clear, this mob mentality cannot continue…We will do whatever we can to help you, because you are one of us, and we are one of you. It is not us against you, and you against us. That is not how it works.”

Ashton, was also visibly emotional, addressed the crowd, saying, “your issues are my issues.”

“You’re affecting a lot of families over something that can be worked out,” said Ashton, in regards to landlords. “This is really something that could’ve been taken care of in a way, but we’re forced to have to deal with this now…we’re left in this loophole area where nothing is being done, but we’re giving some landlords the opportunity to be greedy and take advantage of the situation. That’s what truly bothers me.”

“Some people in the audience mentioned, ‘You don’t have to do anything.’ Technically, you’re right; we don’t. But I know I could not sleep at night if I had that attitude. This is affecting families, kids, senior citizens. This is affecting multiple people.”

There were several options that Council could follow, including the aforementioned moratorium, continuing the discussion on to a later date, implementation of AB 1482 early in Downey, down to nothing at all.

While those in the audience seemed to support an early implementation, ultimately all three remaining council members agreed to have staff bring a no-fault eviction ordinance back to council next week.

Meanwhile, Mayor Pro Tem Blanca Pacheco encouraged those in attendance to seek legal counsel and other resources, should they find themselves facing an unlawful detainer.

The council will now meet next Wednesday, Nov. 20, to make their final decision.

After weeks of resident protests, Council faced with tough decision over evictions