COVID eviction protections were extended, but California repeated the same flawed solution

Throughout the pandemic, California’s leaders have failed to identify meaningful solutions to aid struggling renters and their landlords — two groups whose survival is wrongfully presented as mutually exclusive. Many local governments have offered rental assistance and used federal and state moratoriums to avoid eviction cliffs. Mostly, they’ve adopted stopgap measures and kicked the can down the road again and again, hopelessly waiting on the state to intervene.

Well, California has caught up to the can it kept kicking. And the state is repeating the same flawed tactics as twice before. Members of the California Senate and Assembly are met privately with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office this week, and on Friday announced the third extension of the state’s moratorium on evictions.

An estimated 758,000 California households are behind on rent and facing an average of $4,700 in debt, according to National Equity Atlas. Tenants rights advocates say many families had cut back on necessities such as food, water and medicine with the threat of eviction looming.

Opinion

The Legislature could vote on the extension as early as Monday, two days before the moratorium was set to expire. On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended the nationwide eviction ban one month but said this would likely be the last time.

Rent relief has consistently been presented as the government’s best solution to keeping people housed. California has $5.2 billion of federal aid for tenants, and Newsom promised he will use the money to cover 100% of the state’s unpaid rent so landlords get paid. But recent reports showed that very little has actually been awarded. Of the $688 million requested so far, just $61.6 million has been provided, according to the state’s Housing is Key portal.

Local programs managed by Sacramento and Sacramento County have only used about 12% of their allotment.

Any deal between Newsom and lawmakers must exceed the federal extension through July. California needs enough time to distribute its giant bankroll of rental relief.

More importantly, however, the sunset date must fall before the legislative session ends in September or after legislators return in January. An expiration date in the fall would trigger a catastrophic wave of evictions and escalate the state’s already-dire homeless crisis. Officials said on Friday that the moratorium would end Sept. 30.

California also needs to make it easier for tenants to apply for rental relief. State officials said more than half of the applicants abandoned their applications before completing them. That’s unacceptable for a financial assistance program that’s supposed to keep people housed.

There are many Californians who took other measures to cover their rent, like using credit cards, payday loans and other forms of borrowing. They don’t qualify under the current rules but still face growing debt that could hurt them in the future. Lawmakers need to expand rent relief eligibility so residents who didn’t wait for the government to act are also given a chance at a clean slate.

The true scale of California’s unaffordability and housing insecurities was laid bare by COVID-19. For the entirety of the pandemic, eviction protections designed to keep people safely indoors became a battle between tenants and landlords, waged by advocates and property groups who were already at odds before COVID. By staking eviction relief on rental assistance programs, state leaders turned a public health issue into an economic one.

These days, Newsom is on the campaign trail touting California’s high vaccination rates and an economy roaring back to life. Landlords point to our economic gains as evidence that extending the moratorium isn’t needed anymore.

Yet the data tells a different story. While employment among middle- and high-wage jobs are surpassing pre-pandemic levels, employment rates for people earning less than $27,000 annually are down over 36%, according to a Harvard University recovery tracker. And less than half of California residents in the lowest economic quartile are fully vaccinated.

We continue to fail our most vulnerable residents. Paying back 100% of California’s rental debts would be a significant accomplishment, but it doesn’t give low-income residents a path out of poverty. State leaders need to recognize that short-term fixes are deepening the economic disparities that make it harder to establish consensus on life-or-death issues like housing security.

The Legislature has repeatedly rejected landmark housing bills that would make it easier to build more affordable housing, and faster. As a result, the housing crisis worsened during the pandemic and prices are now at historic highs. California needs leaders who consider the entire picture and recognize that a vote today to extend eviction protections must be followed with a vote tomorrow that ensures tenants can afford to stay in that home when their lease expires.