San Mateo Set To Expire COVID-19 Emergency Declaration

SAN MATEO, CA — The city of San Mateo is set to allow its COVID-19 declaration of emergency to expire, a decision that would immediately impact renters, according to a resolution on the consent calendar for Monday’s council meeting.

If the city council approves the resolution, the declaration of emergency for the pandemic would end on April 30.

Renters who live at city-owned properties would have to go back to paying full rent beginning May 1, with the council decision to reduce rent by 50 percent during the emergency proclamation expiring. Any unpaid rent from the eviction moratorium period that ended Sept. 2020 would also be due in April 2023.

The emergency proclamation had also allowed the city manager to take broader authority over issues related to the emergency.

“While the State’s emergency declaration is still in effect and the City is still addressing pandemic-related issues, at this point in the pandemic staff believes the local declaration of emergency, which lapsed on April 30th, does not need to be renewed,” city staff wrote in a report.

Future pandemic-related policies would be made under the general authority of the city manager, according to the staff report.

The item has not previously come before the council, but it was placed under the consent calendar for Monday’s meeting, meaning it could be enacted by one motion unless a councilmember or member of the public pulls it for discussion.

The council meeting begins Monday at 7 p.m. Click here for the agenda and information on joining.