This chapter is enacted in recognition of the following facts and for the following reasons.
(A) Some residential rental units and single room occupancy buildings in the County of San Benito have been found to have code violations, which threaten the health, life and safety, of occupants. Hazardous living conditions often require that the tenant vacate the structure to allow for repairs or demolition of the structure.
(B) These code violations are often caused by the negligence, deferred maintenance, or the illegal use of the structure as a residence by the property owner. Code violations may breach the owner’s implied warranty of habitability, and could constitute constructive eviction of the tenant household from its residence.
(C) The difficulty of finding affordable replacement housing and the burden of incurring moving-related expenses creates a financial hardship for tenant households, particularly those who are low-income.
(D) Relocation benefits and assistance are necessary to ensure that displaced tenants secure safe, sanitary and decent replacement housing.
(E) Property owners who fail to properly maintain residential rental properties, and/or create residential units illegally should bear responsibility for the hardships their actions (or lack of action) create for the tenant. Relocation is a necessary cost of code enforcement that should be the responsibility of the property owner, and the county should be reimbursed by the responsible owner for any of these costs that it incurs in the code enforcement process.
(F) The requirement to pay relocation costs under this chapter will encourage property owners to correct code violations and protect the public health, safety and general welfare of the residents of the county.
(G) The level of payments provided for in this chapter is reflective of the actual costs of relocation likely to be incurred by displaced tenant households, in particular, moving costs and the cost of first and last months’ rent, as well as other costs, both monetary and non-monetary, associated with involuntary dislocation.
(1966 Code, § 19A-2) (Ord. 774, § 1(part))