Bay Area tenants still paying their rent despite upheavals, high unemployment

Concerns loom as federal subsidies are set to end

High unemployment, coronavirus worries and social upheaval have done little to prevent Bay Area residents from paying their rent.

Roughly 9 in 10 tenants in the Bay Area made at least some payment by the first week of June, according to a survey released Tuesday by real estate data firm RealPage. The payment rate fell from the previous year in the East Bay (down 1.8 percent), Santa Clara County (down 3.5 percent) and San Francisco and San Mateo County (down 4.8 percent).

Real estate professionals attribute the strong June performance to stimulus checks, enhanced unemployment benefits and tenants prioritizing their rents. “The results continue to be good, with some little tiny fraying at the edges,” said Doug Bibby, president of the National Multifamily Housing Council.

The coronavirus pandemic has put 4.94 million Californians out of work. Supplemental unemployment benefits and stimulus checks have filled in some of lost income, but some federal benefits are expected to run out at the end of July. Although renters have been meeting obligations during the first three months of the pandemic, there’s widespread concern about the months ahead.

California lawmakers are considering measures to allow landlords to receive tax credits in exchange for forgiven rent. Tenants would be given years to repay back debt, and some may be eligible for rent forgiveness, ac

cording to a budget proposal from Senate Democrats.

The state and several Bay Area counties and cities have enacted eviction moratoriums, allowing vulnerable renters to stay sheltered during the health crisis. But some temporary measures could be ending; the Judicial Council of California this week will consider ending their ban on eviction hearings in state courts in August.

Tenant advocacy organizations have also organized cancel rent protests throughout the state. About 60,000 have signed an online pledge to stop their monthly payments, according to Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE). Advocates say many poor tenants simply cannot pay.

Nationally, 80.8 percent of tenants made at least some payment during the first week of June, down slightly from the 81.6 percent from the same period last year, according to the council’s survey of 11.5 million professionally-managed apartments. The rate of payments has increased from the first weeks of April (78 percent) and May (80.2 percent).

Last month, 95.1 percent of renters in the survey made payments, a drop from the May 2019 rate of 96.6 percent.

Greg Willett, chief economist at RealPage, said renters in cheaper, older apartments — typically home to lower-income workers — have struggled more recently.

Willett added that the state’s political environment is “not friendly” to landlords, and it could affect payments in coming months. Many counties and cities have enacted eviction moratoriums and other renter protections.

Since the pandemic began, Bay Area rents have started to fall in more expensive cities.

The median rent for a one-bedroom in San Jose dropped about a half of one percent to $2,420 from the previous year, according to listing site Zumper. The price of a typical onebedroom in San Francisco plummeted 9.2 percent to $3,360, still keeping it among the most expensive in the country.

But rents in more affordable cities grew from last June. Median rent in Oakland increased nearly 5 percent, to $2,350, and jumped 9.3 percent to $2,350 in Walnut Creek, according to Zumper.

Zumper CEO Anth Georgiades said the increase in remote work has made it easier for techies to move farther away from their offices, choosing cheaper rents and bigger spaces.

Typically, rents move just a few percentage points, year-over-year, he said. “We’ve never seen anything like this.”