Housing attorney: unpaid water bills and shutoffs can trigger evictions and homelessness

Tony Serzaga, a supervising housing attorney at Community Legal Aid Society, described clients who face large water bills after landlords ignore repair requests or tenants go months without seeing bills. He said shutoffs can precipitate eviction proceedings and homelessness and urged councilmembers to protect the vulnerable rather than an "imaginary villain" seeking to avoid payment.

"When an individual is facing a shutoff notice or has a utility bill that's owed, we're seeing then the landlord... being able to start with the eviction process if a utility bill goes unpaid," Serzaga said. He argued the ordinance is narrowly targeted to assist people who need help and is not a giveaway to system abusers. He called the measure "necessary" to prevent the downstream harms of shutoffs, including eviction and homelessness.