Gilroy City Council Declines To Adopt Eviction Moratorium

GILROY, CA — The Gilroy City Council voted against enacting an ordinance prohibiting evictions of tenants who could not make rent due to financial difficulties caused by COVID-19, citing already-existing ordinances at the county and state levels.

In a 5-2 vote on Monday, the council declined to approve a citywide ordinance. Santa Clara County’s ordinance placing a temporary moratorium on evictions expires at the end of April, and the statewide moratorium runs through the end of June.

The councilmembers who voted down the ordinance were sympathetic toward tenants, but worried about the unintended effect on landlords and noted that there were already two layers of protection in the county and state moratoriums. If those moratoriums run out and are not extended, the council could come back and decide to enact one on its own.

“You can’t help one by then causing a problem for another,” Mayor Marie Blankley said during the meeting. “Then you haven’t helped at all and you’re just trading positions.”

According to a staff report, cities in the county are mostly relying on the state’s moratorium to provide protection to tenants. San Jose has its own eviction moratorium through the end of June.

But as several public speakers and councilmembers emphasized, Gilroy has been hit hardest out of all the cities in Santa Clara County, recording the highest case rate per 100,000 residents. It is also grappling with a large homeless encampment near the on-ramp to Highway 101 at 10th Street, which recently was on the verge of being removed.

Councilmember Rebeca Armendariz, who along with Councilmember Zach Hilton voted in favor of the ordinance, admitted the motion might be “symbolic,” but would send a message of support to the community.

“As a council, it is our responsibility to ensure that our residents have health, that our residents are protected by us,” Armendariz said during the meeting. “Even if it is just symbolic sometimes, that we let them know that we are not going to subject them to more vulnerability at a time like this of a real life and death situation.”