Corte Madera has become the latest Marin jurisdiction to approve a temporary eviction moratorium in response to statewide COVID-19 protections expiring.
The Town Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve the urgency ordinance, which prohibits residential evictions without cause through Sept. 30.
“This item we are taking in concert with Marin County and other jurisdictions to help prevent further homelessness due to COVID,” said Amy Ackerman, the town attorney.
The state’s eviction moratorium for tenants who applied for rental assistance prior to March 31 expired on June 30. The urgency ordinance acts as a local extension of that moratorium.
“We want to ensure that any applicants who had applied for the funds but have not yet had their applications approved are prevented from eviction,” Ackerman said.
Similar extensions have been approved for unincorporated Marin, Fairfax, Larkspur, San Rafael and Novato.
The extensions were adopted because the county government has experienced delays in distributing millions of dollars in rental assistance funding. The county, which manages the rental assistance program, has yet to dispense nearly $8.6 million of the $36.4 million it received from the state and federal governments.
The delays are a result of eligibility verification and residents submitting multiple applications after failing to hear responses, according to the county.
The funds can only be used by those who lost income as a direct result of the pandemic. The funding can only cover overdue rent and utility bills from April 2020 through March 2022.
Corte Madera resident David Macpherson, a lawyer, asked whether the town attorney has identified any Corte Madera tenants who have applied for funds and are still awaiting distribution.
“I say that because for some of my work on behalf of landlords, it appears to me that most of the funds for Marin County have been distributed, and anyone who timely requested rental assistance … has already received those funds,” he said.
Ackerman said, “I could say that this request came from the county because the county office was still in the process of distributing the funding. So as far as the county is concerned, there is still some outstanding funding that hasn’t been processed and they anticipate completing that by the end of September.”
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