Immediate No Cause Eviction Policy

In the San José Mercury News article “San José Council Considers Immediate No-cause Eviction Policy,” the author Ramona Giwargis reports about the City’s final decision to approve an ordinance that would limit no-cause evictions to residents who are renters in the city (Giwargis, 2017c).
On April 18, 2017, the San José City Council voted 6-5 to narrowly approve a policy that would make it illegal to evict occupants for no-cause. Under the Tenant Protection Ordinance (Ordinance), landlords are prohibited from evicting current tenants unless the reasons fall under at least one of twelve criteria, which includes: failure to pay rent, habitual lease violation, property damage, refusal to sign a new lease, causing nuisance, refusing pre-requested apartment access, unapproved subleasing. In addition to these just cause reasons, there are some no-fault just causes that include: significant rehabilitation of the unit, Ellis Act removal or demolition (120 days notice), move in of the owner, orders to evacuate, and vacating of an unpermitted apartment …show more content…
Concerns of the community include immigration status and the fear of being evicted without the protections to fight for their right to live in housing free of serious problems. Advocates call this vote “historic” (Giwargis, 2017a), and have fought for these protections for decades according to community activist, Eunice Hernandez; the Ordinance will provide protections for an anticipated 450,000 residents of the City (Giwargis, 2017b). Landlords argued that the Ordinance will make it difficult to evict problem tenants. Landlords also argued that the passing of the Ordinance will deter other landlords from building and renting in San José and will be hard to prove some of the just-cause evictions. Tenants are elated that these protections will protect them from the apartments they’ve occupied for