By Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
Governor Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders in the Senate and Assembly announced an extension to California's proposed statewide eviction moratorium and an increase in compensation for the rent relief program.
The tripartite agreement on AB 832 extends the current eviction moratorium until September 30, 2021 and will ensure that California will be able to use more than $5 billion in federal rental assistance to help tenants and small landlords as quickly as possible, as well as protect vulnerable households from eviction.
The provisions include increasing the reimbursement to 100 percent for both past due rent and prepayments for tenants and landlords.
In addition, the bill ensures that increased rental assistance remains in California with priority given to cities and counties with unmet need. It also uses the judicial process to ensure that tenants and landlords who have tried to obtain rental assistance.
"California is roaring back from the pandemic, but the economic impacts of COVID-19 continue to disproportionately impact low-income Californians, renters and small homeowners alike," said Governor Newsom.
After the legislature unveiled the extension, he welcomed protecting low-income tenants with a longer eviction moratorium and paying their back rent and utility bills "all thanks to the largest and most comprehensive rental assistance package in the country, I'm eager to sign it into law as soon as I receive it."
At the time, Senate President Pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins said the housing situation in California was already a crisis before COVID, "and the pandemic has only made it worse.
In that regard, he said outreach is key to ensuring that more people don't lose the safety net that helps them keep their homes. "While our state may be emerging from the pandemic in many ways, the lingering financial impact still weighs heavily on California families.
"People are trying to find jobs and make ends meet and one of the biggest needs is to extend the moratorium on evictions, which includes maximizing the federal funds available to help as many renters and homeowners as possible, so they can have a roof over their heads while their finances recover," he said.
For his part, Assemblyman David Chiu, chairman of the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee, detailed that even though the state has reopened, hundreds of thousands of Californians are dealing with rent debt and the threat of eviction.
"Eliminating eviction protections now, while billions of dollars in rental assistance is still available, would be a disaster and exacerbate our homelessness crisis. This proposal avoids a massive eviction cliff, allowing us to keep tenants in their homes and get landlords the financial support they need," he noted.
Meanwhile, Senator Scott Wiener, chairman of the Senate Housing Committee, explained that there is a need to ensure that the social safety net remains strong so that all Californians can remain stably housed.
"We have come a long way in ending this pandemic, but its impact will continue to ripple through our economy. Many renters are still out of work. Thousands of families tragically lost someone in their home to COVID-19, which can be devastating both emotionally and financially."
