Evictions may loom for renters
Greater protections needed as pandemic persists, advocates warn
Housing advocates warn that nearly 43,500 renters in Santa Clara County could face evictions in coming months if federal unemployment supplements and other protections aren’t extended.
A study released Wednesday by the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley and Working Partnerships USA says the damage will fall heaviest on Black and
Latinx residents, and could drive up evictions roughly 16 times higher than normal. The advocacy groups estimate future evictions could as much as triple the county’s homeless population.
“The time is now to prevent this eviction time bomb from happening,” said Nadia Aziz, directing attorney at the Law Foundation. Aziz urged greater legal protections and the creation of a special court where tenants and landlords can negotiate and prevent widespread housing disruptions.
The warnings come despite state and local eviction moratoriums and landlord surveys finding at least 80% of Bay Area tenants are making payments during the pandemic.
Federal supplements to unemployment insurance, totaling $600 a week for out-of-work adults, are scheduled to end this month unless extended by Congress. Landlords and housing advocates credit the enhanced benefits with helping tenants pay rent.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday said “we are walking toward the edge of a cliff” as initial shortterm measures to support tenants are set to expire. Newsom said his administration is looking at ways to extend protections and draw greater support from the federal government.
Although rents have recently dropped with demand in many cities, Bay Area housing prices are still the highest in the nation. The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $2,860 in San Jose, $2,850 in Oakland and $4,340 in San Francisco, according to apartment site Zumper.
Even before the pandemic, the advocacy groups estimated that about half of the workers in Silicon Valley paid more than the recommended 30% of household income toward housing costs. Job losses during the pandemic have made it worse.
More than 200,000 workers filed unemployment claims in Santa Clara County during the first 2 1/2 months of the pandemic. The advocacy groups estimate some of the nearly 100,000 undocumented workers in the county have been shut out of state and federal aid. The study estimates about 43,500 households are vulnerable to eviction because they are led by adults who have lost work and do not receive unemployment benefits.
Eviction moratoriums enacted by the state and Bay Area counties and cities offer protection from the courts for struggling renters, but do not erase back rent owed from coronavirus-related loss of income.
The nonprofits want a ban on evictions for rent missed because of the pandemic, while protecting landlords’ right to sue for back rent. They are also calling for rent forgiveness for the poorest tenants, and longer repayment deadlines for others.
Jeffrey Buchanan, public policy director at Working Partnerships USA in San Jose, said additional support will avert a housing crisis. “It’s not too late for public policy makers to prevent this public health and racial justice disaster,” he said.
More Bay Area tenants struggled to make rent during July than the previous year, according to real estate data firm RealPage. Between 82% and 87% of Bay Area tenants made payments during the first week of July, down 6% to 7% from the previous year.
Carolina, a single mother with four children in San Jose, lost her cash-paying job as a waitress and cashier. She was unable to get unemployment, and has not found work.
She’s fallen four months behind in her rent, and her food and energy expenses have gone up with her children at home full time. She said she has received multiple notices to leave since April, and worries she’ll be evicted when the emergency ends.
Carolina, who gave only her first name for fear of reprisals, said it would be nearly impossible to make up her back rent in the first six months after the emergency orders lift. “It’s going to be difficult,” she said through an interpreter.
A handful of California property owners have sued to end the state judicial council’s eviction moratorium, which has halted court proceedings for almost all landlord-tenant rent disputes.
Todd Rothbard, a landlord attorney in Santa Clara, said most landlords are helping their struggling tenants, but some tenants are taking advantage of the freedom to skip rent. “When you have an enforcement tool,” he said, “people pay attention.”
Rothbard’s firm files between 300 and 400 eviction cases a month in the Bay Area. He expects a spike of a few hundred more cases in the first month after the moratoriums are lifted, but then predicts a return to normal levels as renters are given months to repay.