Ord 2023-001 Extending the Eviction Moratorium

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IN THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN LEANDRO ORDINANCE NO. 2023-001 ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SAN LEANDRO CITY COUNCIL TO EXTEND THE CITY'S EVICTION MORATORIUM TO FEBRUARY 28, 2024 WHEREAS, a severe outbreak of respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus named "SARS-CoV- 2," and the disease it causes has been named "coronavirus disease 2019," abbreviated COVID-19 ("COVID- 19"); and WHEREAS, on March 1, 2020, the Health Officer of Alameda County declared a public health emergency throughout the County of Alameda due to COVID-19; and WHEREAS, on March 4, 2020, the Governor of California proclaimed a state of emergency throughout California related to COVID-19; and WHEREAS, on March 16, 2020, due to an escalating increase in the number of cases in Alameda County, under San Leandro Municipal Code section 3-4-124, the Director of Emergency Services proclaimed a local emergency and a state of emergency related to COVID-19; and WHEREAS, on March 16, 2020, at its regular meeting the San Leandro City Council ratified the Director of Emergency Services' proclamation of a local emergency and a state of emergency related to COVID-19; and WHEREAS, on March 16, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-28-20 suspending any provision of state law that would preempt or otherwise restrict a local government's exercise of its police powers to impose substantive limitations on residential or commercial evictions related to COVID- 19; and WHEREAS, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 2020-003 as an urgency ordinance on March 23, 2020 to establish a moratorium on residential and commercial evictions due to nonpayment of rent for tenants where the failure to pay rent is from income loss resulting from COVID-19; and WHEREAS, the eviction moratorium enacted by Ordinance No. 2020-003 expires upon the expiration of the later of the Governor's proclamation of a state of emergency or the City Council's termination of the local emergency, both of which are currently scheduled to occur on February 28, 2023; and WHEREAS, notwithstanding the end of the state of emergency and the local emergency, COVID-19 continues to be a threat to public health. As of February 9, 2023, according to Alameda County Public Health, an average of 161 cases per day were reported, a 34 percent increase from the average two weeks prior. In San Leandro, as of February 9, 2023, there have been 1,956 probable cases of COVID-19 infection; and WHEREAS, COVID-19 will remain unpredictable, especially as variants emerge, as reported in CNRS News on April 10, 2022, quoting Samuel Alizon, a specialist in the modelling of infectious diseases, "Although some underlying trends are becoming apparent, the progression of variants remains largely unpredictable. The Alpha strain appeared when most epidemiologists thought that the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 was only neutral. At a time when there were fears that mutants of Alpha might surface and escape immunity, Delta emerged and replaced it. And when monitoring focused on Delta clusters carrying worrying mutations, Omicron took over even more rapidly; and