The Chula Vista City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to explore modifying the city’s pioneering tenant protection rules after an Oct. 14 brawl at a local apartment complex resulted in six arrests and one victim hospitalized with stabbing wounds.
Chula Vista adopted its tenant protection ordinance in 2022, becoming the first San Diego County city to set rules that go beyond state law to protect renters from unfair evictions. The city’s rules set guidelines for so-called “no-fault” evictions when landlords seek to remove otherwise law-abiding tenants in order to sell a building or engage in major renovation projects.
Now, following the Oct. 14 brawl and amid complaints from apartment owners and residents that criminals are taking advantage of legal loopholes to wreak havoc in rental units, councilmembers on Tuesday asked whether Chula Vista’s efforts to protect tenants might have gone too far.
“There is state law [governing rental units] but maybe we can tweak things in our own community to help our neighbors,” said City Councilmember Michael Inzunza, who spearheaded the request for a full review of the city’s tenant protection rules.
Inzunza and other councilmembers said they remain in favor of guarding law-abiding tenants from unfair evictions.
But they said they want to act if well-intentioned city rules inadvertently have made it easier for criminals or squatters to occupy rental units, cause problems and evade consequences for months while eviction proceedings play out in court.
Supported by the rest of the City Council, Inzunza asked the city attorney to explore changes “to the city’s residential tenant protection ordinance that would strengthen our ability to address serious and repeated nuisance activity, documented threats, criminal conduct and dangerous residential conditions.”
“This is a problem all over the state of California,” Inzunza said in an interview before Tuesday’s meeting.
“[There’s] the very liberal side that believes in protecting good tenants who are struggling. And on the conservative side you have property owners who are tired of dealing with criminal activities in their properties and they can’t evict. I’m on the reasonable side to protect neighbors and give responsible landlords the ability to expedite criminals who are avoiding evictions.”
Close to a dozen residents from Casa Lago, the eastside Chula Vista apartment complex where the Oct. 14 brawl took place, attended Tuesday’s Council meeting to plead for help from city leaders.
They said the brawl was only the latest incident at an apartment in the 427-unit complex where for months a group of squatters has been hosting loud parties, brandishing weapons and engaging in other illicit activities.
Residents said the squatters threatened and harassed neighbors and left litter and debris around the complex.
“We are terrified,” said Casa Lago resident Paul Martin. “They threatened my life. They said they’ll beat us up and spit on us. This can’t be taken lightly.”
Martin and other residents said they had called police more than a dozen times about problems at the apartment and made numerous requests to the complex’s property manager for security improvements. Residents said the property manager had done little to address the problem.
Jorge Cabrera, a representative for the Willow Bridge Property Company, which manages the Casa Lago complex on behalf of an investment firm, said the owner has sued to evict the tenants and he could not comment on specifics of the situation.
“We care deeply about our community and are committed to resolving the situation,” Cabrera said.
Molly Kirkland, public affairs director for the Southern California Rental Housing Association, said state law, as well as local rules, can make it difficult for landlords to evict problem tenants.
California lawmakers adopted a statewide tenant protection act in 2019 that sets strict rules around evicting tenants for nonpayment of rent, engaging in criminal activity or causing problems for neighbors.
The state added to those protections during the Covid 19 pandemic. Most of the Covid-era rules were temporary and have expired. But some California cities enacted rules of their own that go beyond state law.
Chula Vista was the first such city in San Diego County, followed by the cities of San Diego and Imperial Beach.
Kirkland said the combined effect of state and local laws has been to drag out eviction proceedings for up to a year in backlogged courtrooms, often costing landlords hundreds or thousands of dollars in legal fees.
Even squatters or tenants who refuse to pay rent get the same protections if they claim to be lawful tenants, Kirkland said.
Kirkland said the intent of state law is to provide “protections for renters and we fully support that because tenants deserve that.”
“But the protections have shifted the balance to give bad actors those same protections,” she said.
Kirkland said property owners sponsored state legislation last year to amend eviction rules to make it easier to evict problem tenants, but the bill died in the state Assembly.
Chula Vista leaders on Tuesday said there are a number of changes they could make to help landlords when tenants cause problems.
Among the changes: Delaying the onset of some tenant protections for up to a year; directing police to help landlords document problems at rental units; increasing coordination between city departments; and creating a Neighborhood Protection Program to expedite eviction efforts.
Inzunza said he hopes Chula Vista’s efforts spark a wider discussion about the tradeoffs in housing rules.
“When Covid hit the state of California, the state relaxed laws to protect working families that were one paycheck away from being homeless, and that was necessary,” he said. “However, unruly and dangerous squatters took advantage and now it’s resulting in unruly people living rent free, avoiding evictions while they are throwing parties till two in the morning and sending neighbors to the hospital.”
“I…want to focus on the criminal element, to give law enforcement bigger teeth to expedite evictions,” he said.