By Mark Carlisle
Twitter: @mwcarlisle

The Glendale City Council voted unanimously last week to place a moratorium on any evictions and water utility disconnections for residents of Glendale's public housing if residents cannot make rent due to decreased income caused by the new coronavirus.

Glendale’s public housing evictions will be stopped until Saturday, May 30. The stoppage can be extended by another vote from Council. Unless the moratorium is extended, Glendale’s resolution will be rendered largely mute by an executive order issued the same day by Gov. Doug Ducey.

Mr. Ducey’s order is more wide-sweeping—applying to all renters, not just public housing—and longer, lasting 120 until Wednesday, July 22.

Glendale has 155 public housing apartments across three rental communites. 

“This resolution clearly puts community first, and I want to thank our staff for putting it on the agenda,” said Ocotillo District Councilman Jamie Aldama, calling into to the Tuesday, March 24 Council meeting.

While they won’t be immediately evicted, neither the city nor state law frees renters of their obligation to pay rent.

Glendale staff said they’d already had the resolution prepared for the March 24 meeting when they heard the announcement of Mr. Ducey’s executive order.

“It looks very similar,” Assistant City Manager Vicki Rios said during the meeting. “I think it’s just a case of us being a little more proactive with our tenants, but of course we’ll follow our own resolution and/or the governor’s executive order, whichever applies.”

The two laws list as reasons for protection from eviction:

• Being sick with COVID-19 or caring for a family member who is
• Incurring medical costs from COVID-19
• A loss of income from being laid off, having work hours decreased, or losing business due to the pandemic
• Increased childcare costs from school closures due to COVID-19
• Needing to stay home from work to care for children while schools are closed due to COVID-19

Glendale’s resolution also lists complying with a government order to stay home, self-quarantine or avoid congregating as a protection from eviction. This applies to all Arizonans right now as Mr. Ducey issued a stay-at-home order that went into effect Tuesday and goes through Thursday, April 30.

The Glendale resolution isn’t a blanket exemption from all evictions though.

“This particular resolution does not, however, prevent evictions for other types of activity, such as criminal activity, domestic violence or destruction of property,” Ms. Rios said.

While it might be a relief to avoid immediate eviction, many renters with lost income due to the pandemic may accrue large rent debts that will need to be paid once evictions are unfrozen. On Monday, Mr. Ducey released a plan to use federal funds from the Paycheck Protection Program passed by Congress and signed into law last week to help families and small businesses get loans.

For home-owners, the governor’s office pointed out that The Arizona Department of Housing offers assistance to Arizonans struggling to make mortgage payments. Through the Department’s “Save Our Home AZ” (SOHAZ) program, Arizonans may qualify for:

• Principal Reduction Assistance,
• Monthly Mortgage Subsidy Assistance for under and unemployed Arizonans, 
• And Second Lien Elimination Assistance.

SOHAZ Program questions may be directed to the Arizona Department of Housing, Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. by calling (602) 771-1000 or by visiting housing.az.gov/save-our-home.

Mark Carlisle
Associate Editor | Daily Independent
@mwcarlisle

mcarlisle@iniusa.org

Mark is passionate about accurately informing his readers to what is happening in their community. He also loves reading and writing about sports. Mark has worked for Independent Newsmedia for five years. He married his high school sweetheart, adopted a boxer mix, and awaits his first child.