Three Fresno city council members have proposed a set of changes. This would be to the city’s code enforcement policy as well as new eviction protections for renters. The council vice president and District 7 Nelson Esparza and District 3 representative Miguel Arias have, in fact, introduced amendments. They are for the 2017 Rental Housing Improvement Act. This has enacted proactive code enforcement inspections.
City Council – Eviction Protections Program
Esparza and Tyler Maxwell, District 4 representative, also introduced the Eviction Protections Program (EPP). It is a new proposal that closes the gap between the Right to Counsel Program by the RTC Coalition. As well as the Rental Mediation Program by Council President Luis Chavez. In fact, all three proposals are gearing toward providing eviction protections ahead of a potential “eviction storm.”
“In fact, Housing security and stability, along with habitability, are developing concerns. This is within our city.” Esparza has made the statement during a news conference. “ Nor are these are issues not that are occurring in a vacuum.”
New Rules
As a result of an investigation, the new rules regarding an out-of-compliance Manchester Arms apartment complex in Esparza’s central Fresno district. As well as the coming to the end of the California rent moratorium on June 30th.
Moreover, a new set of renter protections are going to be put in place. They are to quell slumlords and thus prevent homelessness as the county continues to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus its ongoing effects on the economy and the health of the city.
“Here in Fresno, there is a rapidly increasing homeless population, as well as across the state. It is in part of a function of the fragility of our housing market,” Esparza said.
City Council: RTC Proposal
In fact, Maxwell and Esparza’s EPP proposal adopts features of the RTC proposal and the Rental Mediation Program.
There is a need for an eviction program. Moreover, it made more pressing by the current federal court ruling. That ruling is national rent moratorium is imposing by the Centers for Disease Control is not lawful. Until June 30, the California rent moratorium will stay in place.
The city does need to plan for the uncertainty, Maxwell said. This is because “the future of the moratorium is all but definite.”
