SAN DIEGO — San Diego City Council President Georgette Gomez will propose Tuesday extending until March the deadline for residents to make up rent payments missed due to economic hardship brought on by the coronavirus.
Gomez will ask for council support at Tuesday's scheduled council meeting to extend the rent-payment deadline until March 31, according to a statement from her office.
The city has an eviction moratorium in place until Sept. 30, prohibiting landlords from evicting renters and small businesses that are unable to cover their rent or lease payments due to the pandemic. The moratorium does not forgive all rent, but gives tenants additional time to pay it.
The current payment deadline is Sept. 25.
Gomez said that amid rising unemployment and the expiration of the $600 weekly federal unemployment benefit, San Diegans should be given more leeway to make their rental payments.
"When we passed the eviction moratorium in March, I hoped that six months would be enough for renters and small businesses to recover from the economic effects of COVID-19, or that our federal government would provide sufficient relief," Gomez said. "Unfortunately, the pandemic is not subsiding, unemployment remains high, many businesses are still struggling, and the federal government's response has been woefully inadequate. It is absolutely critical that we give San Diegans more time."
San Diego's eviction moratorium has been extended twice since the beginning of the pandemic. The latest extension was approved last month by a 5-4 council vote.
The city council has also approved $15.1 million in relief for renters, as well as nearly $19 million in relief for small businesses.
Not everyone believes this proposal goes far enough.
"These are immediate solutions to a long term problem," said Grace Martinez of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment. "We really need to get to the root of it."
Local rent control activists are calling for rent cancellation, as part of a more comprehensive long-term solution.
"Something we know will be sustainable and not just a patchwork that is going to fall apart in six months or three months or one month," added Rafael Bautista of San Diego Tenants United.
At the same time, more than 30 million Americans, including thousands of San Diegans, are on the verge of losing their federal unemployment benefits this week.
"I feel anxious about it and a little bit scared," said Californian Larrilou Carumba, a single mother of three. She lost her job as a hotel housekeeper at the start of the pandemic.
Carumba is now about to lose the $600 weekly federal benefit which has proved crucial in helping her family survive.
"With the $600, it has really helped me a lot, because it paid my bills," she said. "I live paycheck to paycheck."
Families like Carumba's are anxious to see these federal benefits extended.
Still unclear: how long these federal benefits may be extended for, and by how much.
Earlier Monday, Senate Republicans proposed slashing the $600 weekly benefits to $200 a week, for a period of two months.
After that, it would cap unemployment at 70% of a worker's previous wages under the Republican proposal.
"When you pay people more to work than they would get working, what do you expect?" said Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
"The Republican plan is weak tea when we need a much stronger brew." countered Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York.
House Democrats had earlier proposed to extend the $600 weekly federal payments thru January.
"People are not back to work. They are still suffering," Gomez told News 8. "And now federal unemployment benefits are expiring. I only hope that the federal government is going to act quickly."
