Need help with rent, utilities? Oakland offers assistance

Oakland has started a program to help those struggling to pay rent or utilities in the wake of the COVID-19 economic fallout.

The city launched on Thursday its Keep Oakland Housed Emergency Rental Assistance Program to help tenants who have accumulated debt for late rent or utility payments.

Oakland officials will work with organizations that include Bay Area Community Services, Catholic Charities East Bay, Centro Legal de la Raza and Eviction Defense Center to distribute the funds, which come from billions of dollars from the federal government earmarked for emergency rental assistance across the country.

Oakland gets $12.8 million of those funds and will give priority to tenants who have low incomes, those who have previously experienced homelessness or those who live in neighborhoods with high rates of COVID-19 infections, as well as seniors, families with children or households with someone who has disabilities, according to information from the city.

To qualify for the program, a four-person household must not make more than $62,250 a year. Those applying must qualify for unemployment benefits or be experiencing financial hardship, and they must be at risk of becoming homeless or experiencing housing instability, according to city documents.

Priority will be given to paying past rent due, and in most cases the funds will be given directly to the landlord. After past rent is paid, the money can be spent on upcoming rent. It also can go toward utility bills or other housing expenses.

Landlords who are owed rent also can apply for relief.

California is administering $2.4 billion it received from the December federal relief package for rental assistance. According to Oakland officials, $13.8 million of that will be used in Oakland.

The state is using program operators Local Initiatives Support Corp. and Horne LLP to focus on property owner rental debt. Landlords can apply to get reimbursed for 80% of each eligible tenant’s unpaid rent from April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021, if they agree to waive the remaining 20% of unpaid rent for that time period.

Landlords must show the state that the tenants are at or below 80% of the area median income, and their renters must sign paperwork with the state to agree to the arrangement.

Under city law, a property owner cannot evict a tenant for failing to pay rent if the tenant had a substantial loss of income or increase in expenses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That eviction moratorium will extend until the end of the declared “local emergency.”

For more information about the rental assistance program, email housingassistance@oaklandca.gov or call 510-238-6182.

More information on the state’s SB 91 Rental Assistance Program can be found at landlordtenant.dre.ca.gov/covid_rr/index.html

Oakland tenants or low-income homeowners who fear displacement can explore the city’s antidisplacement programs here:

For tenants

• Call Centro Legal de la Raza at 510-422-5669 or go to centrolegal.org/achousingsecure.

• Bay Area Community Services can be reached at 510-8999289.

• Catholic Charities East Bay — 510-768-3100

Or go to keepoaklandhoused.org/ howtogethelp.

For homeowners

Contact Housing and Economic Rights Advocates (HERA) at 510-271-8443, ext. 300, or go to heraca.org.