Advocates call for extension of California tenant protections, aid

Renter advocates on Tuesday urged California lawmakers to extend pandemic eviction protections into the summer, as a statewide safety net for struggling tenants expires April 1.

The California emergency rental assistance program remains mired in delays, confusion and lack of transparency, even as unemployment remains high in certain industries, advocates say. They called for an extension into August.

About 366,000 renter families have applied for assistance and are waiting for the state process their requests, said Francisco Duenas of Housing Now!, a statewide nonprofit tenant advocacy group.

Many of the renter families have waited months to get answers, he said, and soon “are going to be vulnerable to losing their homes if the state does not extend these eviction protections.”

State law designed to limit pandemic displacement and protect public health generally prohibits landlords from starting evictions based on unpaid rent if a tenant has applied for aid. But that protection ends next month, and tenants who fail to pay April rent can be served notice to pay or leave.

Housing advocates and landlords are bracing for calamity next month — a possible burst of evictions, and continued uncertainty over when, or if, aid applications will be processed by the state. California’s unemployment rate was 5.8% in January, still above pre-COVID levels.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers have extended protections three times during the COVID-19 pandemic, each time shortly before state laws expired. Lawmakers have not publicly announced plans for another extension.

Landlord groups have fought the extensions, saying some tenants not impacted by the pandemic have been taking advantage of the program. Small landlords have struggled to pay their mortgages, and say they cannot keep tenants housed without rent indefinitely.

“We’ve got some real horror stories,” said Krista Gulbransen, executive director of the Berkeley Rental Housing Coalition. Local eviction moratoriums in Alameda County and Oakland will remain in place when state protections end.

More small East Bay apartment owners have decided to sell their properties rather than continue to fight for rent, she said. “Some recognize the debt will never get paid,” she said.

The emergency rental assistance program, Housing is Key, launched in March 2021, with a combination of state and local programs distributing aid to renters impacted by the health crisis.

More than a half-million California renters and landlords have applied to the state program for assistance in the past 12 months, requesting more than $6 billion to settle unpaid housing debts and far exceeding the fund’s $5.2 billion initial allocation, according to state data.

An analysis by the National Equity Atlas found that half of program applicants are still waiting for a response. About one-third of applicants said they had been threatened with eviction or received notice to leave. State housing officials say the review process is getting faster, but still requires documentation to ensure applications are valid.

The program has distributed $2.4 billion so far. Housing officials have estimated a need for $2.5 billion more from the federal government, although their requests have yielded just a fraction of the amount. Officials say the program will pay all the eligible debts on pending requests, but will stop accepting new applications on April 1.