The California Apartment Association this week published compliance materials to help housing providers navigate San Jose’s new rent-freeze ordinance.

On Feb. 2, the San Jose City Council unanimously prohibited rent increases for residents in rent-controlled apartments who have experienced COVID-related financial hardships. The ordinance will run through June 30 unless extended.

To qualify for the rent freeze, these residents must give their landlords a declaration of COVID-19 related financial distress. CAA members will find links to the proper forms for the declarations in the association’s newly updated Industry Insight: City of San Jose Moratorium on Evictions & Rent Increases.

CAA worked with the city on requiring the hardship declaration. San Jose’s previous rent freeze, which expired Dec. 31, 2020, applied to all tenants in rent-controlled housing, regardless of COVID hardship.

In addition to compliance material about San Jose’s rent freeze, CAA’s compliance team this week published a Q&A on the interaction between the city’s eviction moratorium and the state’s COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act, which was renewed with the recent passage of Senate Bill 91.