California Governor Gavin Newsom
Gavin Newsom
at Governor of California
Gavin Newsom has been on the pandemic rollercoaster with tenants and landlords in both residential and commercial properties. The governor has exercised unprecedented emergency powers affecting the real estate industry since the coronavirus outbreak hit, affecting millions of people in the country’s most populous state.
For those keeping score: Over the past eight months, Newsom and California shut down the economy in March; started the first reopening process; hit reverse in the summer and closed businesses again; restarted a new reopening process; and, in November, issued a new, “limited” nighttime, stay-at-home order as cases surge again throughout the state.
In that time, Newsom has also dealt with record unemployment and historic budgetary issues. Due to fears of an eviction wave involving both residential and commercial tenants, Newsom passed emergency measures to allow localities to halt evictions. But Newsom and state lawmakers squabbled for months before finally extending the stay on evictions for not paying rent into 2021.
The crisis spawned other major proposals like Senate Bill 939 at the state capitol. Although that bill failed, it caught the attention of Newsom and the real estate industry around the country, as it would have allowed commercial tenants to break their lease if landlords didn’t negotiate.
Newsom has even been entangled in major decisions with specific types of businesses, like when to reopen hair salons, movie theaters or theme parks. He’s also been the target of countless complaints from places like Disneyland, and its supporters, for not providing a path to reopen with restrictions.
Newsom also signed a landmark rent control bill, which went into effect just a couple months before the pandemic hit. It caps annual increases to five percent plus inflation, and requires that landlords seek approval from a third party before evicting a tenant.—G.C.
