Newsom urges landlords, tenants to apply for aid
Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday laid out enhanced efforts to speed up rental assistance to reeling landlords and tenants, urging a quicker turnaround for aid requests and encouraging more participation in the $7.2 billion program.
Relief efforts launched in March by the state and large cities have been hampered by complex applications, slow processing and complicated rules and regulations. The state last month extended an eviction moratorium through Sept. 30, hoping to stem widespread displacement of tenants unable to make payments during the economic hardships of the pandemic.
The state relief program has served nearly 11,000 families, with an average grant of $14,500. More than 8 in 10 applicants are making less than half the median income of their communities — about $50,000 to $60,000 for a family in the Bay Area. Data for individual cities and counties are not included in the tally.
More than $1 billion has been requested from the state by nearly 109,000 tenant and landlord applications. But only a fraction of the total — $158 million — has been paid out, according to state data, leaving many in limbo.
Newsom said the state has improved its website, Housing Is Key, and added more community partners to reach poor and immigrant communities. He cautioned the risks from the virus and economic upheaval remain throughout the state. “This has been an incredibly challenging 15 months and we’re not out of the woods,” he said. “COVID is not taking the summer off. It’s not behind us.”
The patchwork of programs administered by the state and large cities reimburses eligible landlords for unpaid rent from low-income tenants dating back to April 2020. The $7.2 billion effort includes $5.2 billion in federal relief aimed at lower-income tenants. The state has promised landlords full reimbursement for rent missed due to pandemic hardship, and $2 billion in supplemental state funds to cover unpaid utility bills.
Officials at the state Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency are aiming to send funds out within 30 days of receiving a completed request — a standard many landlords and tenants say was not met for early applications.
State jobless claims inch down
California workers filed slightly fewer initial claims for unemployment last week, the government reported Thursday.
Initial jobless claims totaled about 58,400 for the week ending July 10, down 450 claims from the previous week, according to the Labor Department.
Filings remain persistently worse than the trends seen before coronavirus-linked business shutdowns began 16 months ago.
In sharp contrast to California, jobless claims across the nation fell to their lowest level since the business shutdowns began. Nationwide, workers filed 360,000 initial claims, down 26,000 from 386,000 claims filed in the week ending July 3, the Labor Department reported.
Initial unemployment claims filings in California remain elevated even though state and local government agencies reopened the statewide economy in midJune, noted Michael Bernick, an employment attorney with law firm Duane Morris and a former director of the state Employment Development Department.
“Nearly all business sectors are formally open, but most workers, who can work remotely, are not physically coming back to their workplaces,” Bernick said. “Many other workers are remaining on the labor market sidelines, receiving unemployment or not.”
The jobless claims for the most recent week are 30% higher than what they were before the business shutdowns began.
During January and February 2020, the final two months before state and local government officials locked down the California economy to combat the spread of the coronavirus, unemployment claims averaged 44,800 a week.
The 58,400 claims filed last week in California are only 9,600 fewer than the 68,000 claims that were filed the week that ended on June 12.
Despite the reopening of the California economy, weekly claims totals are only 14% below where they were before the economy was unlocked about four weeks ago.
The current trend for unemployment claims suggests that California workers remain jobless at an abnormally high level — even in the wake of the reopening of the statewide economy in mid-June.