HHR: CA’s $2.6B Federal Rent Relief; Eviction Moratorium Extension ‘A Step in the Right Direction’
25 Enero 2021 - 8:57PM
Business Wire
Housing advocates applaud state’s extension of
eviction moratorium through June 30, 2021 and welcome $2.6B in
federal COVID stimulus that Gov. Newsom and the state’s legislative
leadership will quickly direct to renter and landlord relief
Advocates were skeptical, but happy officials
did not listen to the Legislative Analysts’ Office assertion that
renters only owed $400 million in back rent due to the COVID
pandemic, a dubious estimate
Housing justice advocates from Housing Is A Human Right (HHR)
are calling California Governor Gavin Newsom and the legislative
leadership’s extension of the state’s eviction moratorium—now in
place through June 30, 2021—and their intention to quickly and
equitably deploy $2.6 billion in federal COVID stimulus money for
renter and landlord relief a step in the right direction. However,
advocates note the unprecedented scale and enormity of the problems
still facing tenants and landlords as a result of the pandemic and
are urging even more action.
In a joint press statement released earlier today by Governor
Newsom, Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins and Assembly
Speaker Anthony Rendon announcing the extension of the eviction
moratorium, the trio stated, “We are also moving forward as quickly
as possible to deploy California’s share of the latest federal
stimulus bill – ensuring that up to $2.6 billion in renter aid is
administered quickly, equitably and accountably.”
“Today’s announcement by Governor Newsom, Assembly Speaker
Rendon and Senate Pro Tempore Atkins is a welcome step in the right
direction and we thank them for taking swift action that will bring
relief to millions of tenants and landlords alike. However, until
the coronavirus pandemic is under control, an additional $2.4
billion should be allocated from the state and distributed
equitably with or without landlord participation to prevent
evictions,” said Susie Shannon, policy director for Housing
Is A Human Right.
Last week, the state’s Legislative Analysts’ Office (LAO) issued
a report asserting that the cumulative rent debt owed by California
renters due to the COVID-19 pandemic was $400 million. HHR and its
parent organization, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), were both
deeply skeptical of the estimate, believing it to be woefully
low.
Two weeks ago, Housing Is A Human Right advocates called on
Newsom and the California Legislature to quickly create a $5
billion Renters and Small Landlords Survival Fund as a means to
shortstop what many see as a looming eviction crisis prompted by
the devastating economic havoc the coronavirus pandemic has caused
throughout California over the past year.
As part of that effort, the groups ran a series of ‘The COVID
Eviction Emergency Is Here’ advocacy ads in four newspapers across
the state: the Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles
Times, and San Diego Union-Tribune.
California also has a welcome, if unexpected, 2021 state budget
surplus of at least $15 billion (and which one budget watchdog
previously predicted could be as large as $26 billion), according
to Bloomberg. Housing advocates are urging Governor Newsom and
state budget officials to direct a significant portion of that
surplus, together with the $2.6 billion stimulus package from
Washington, toward tenant and landlord relief.
California is currently home to 17 million renters, making up
roughly 43 percent of the state’s population. And while eviction
bans and moratoriums (several of which have been extended one or
more times) that have been put in place on a national, state and
local level have helped keep many struggling renters in their
homes, what’s needed is truly meaningful financial assistance for
both renters and the small landlords who house them. Well-intended
one-time $600 payments from the state or federal government will
simply not allow tenants to cover their missed—and growing—back
rent obligations nor make landlords, who have also faced
significant economic hardship as a result of the pandemic,
whole.
According to several news sources, the U.S. Treasury has a Jan.
26 deadline to distribute $26 billion in federal rent relief funds
to state and local governments. California is expecting $2.6
billion of those funds.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005947/en/
Ged Kenslea, Senior Director, Communications for AHF,
+1.323.791.5526, gedk@aidshealth.org