Today is a new day!
Until a few days ago, many of us were extremely concerned that hundreds of thousands of Californians were about to fall off an eviction cliff, because eviction protections were set to expire today. Despite vaccinations and the economy reopening, many tenants who bore the brunt of job losses with serious rental debt have been hanging on by a thread.
After down-to-the-wire negotiations, the Legislature just voted for and the Governor signed my AB 832 bill to prevent a wave of evictions. Here are some highlights:
- California’s COVID-19 eviction protections are extended through September 30th. These apply to all renters with COVID-related financial hardships who cannot pay rent.
- For tenants experiencing financial hardships, the state will now cover 100% of unpaid rent since the beginning of the pandemic, to erase rental debt for struggling tenants and ensure struggling landlords are paid back in full.
- The bill creates a “backstop” period between October 1 of this year and March 31 of next year, when evictions against renters eligible for rent relief will be paused.
- Court records related to evictions for rent nonpayment or the collection of rental debt due to COVID-19 will be sealed, to avoid impacting a person’s credit or ability to apply for future housing.
Our state has received a record of $5.2 billion in federal rental assistance, but only a small fraction has actually been received by struggling tenants and landlords. We fought to avoid the tragedy of families being evicted onto the streets while California has rent relief funding to keep them in their homes.
I’ll stay in touch about available resources for renters and landlords — and for everyone who calls our state home.
Onward,
David