California eviction ban ends, but not the help for low-income tenants behind in their rent
While California’s ban on evictions ends Friday, low-income tenants behind in their rent still can get help to stay in their homes.
Low-income tenants who have not paid or cannot pay their rent because of a COVID-19 economic hardship — such as being laid off or having work hours reduced — or who faced increased expenses because of the pandemic can avoid eviction by applying for rental assistance. The program also pays past-due utility bills.
Tenants and landlords can learn more about the program and apply at the website housing.ca.gov. The program is for tenants who make no more than 80% of their area median income. In Stanislaus County, 80% of the median income is $57,050 for a family of four or $45,650 for a family of two.
A landlord cannot pursue an eviction over nonpayment of rent while a low-income tenant has a pending rental assistance application. That applies to applications filed before Friday’s end to the eviction moratorium, which the state put in place during the pandemic.
With the end of the moratorium, tenants now have 15 days to file an application upon receiving eviction paperwork from their landlord and to let their landlord know they have applied for rental assistance. Tenants also must respond to any paperwork they receive from the court regarding an attempt to evict them.
And before a court will issue an eviction, a landlord has to show he tried to get what he is owed through the rental assistance program and the application was denied or the tenant did not complete his part of the application.
California Department of Housing and Community Development spokesman Russ Heimerich said these state protections are in place through March 2022.
California has about $1.8 billion left in federal pandemic-related rental assistance funding. Still, Heimerich said tenants will need to take the initiative if they receive an eviction notice over unpaid rent, including responding to any notices from the court and their landlord.
“They are going to have to be proactive,” he said.
He said Housing and Community Development has spoken with the Judicial Council of California to ensure the courts are aware of the tenant protections and has spoken with legal aid groups that help low-income renters.
The state’s Housing is Key website lists these Modesto-based resources for tenants in Stanislaus County:
▪ California Rural Legal Assistance, 1020 15th St., Suite 20, 209-577-3811 or www.crla.org
▪ Project Sentinel Fair Housing Center, 1231 Eighth St., Suite 425, 888-324-7468 or email fairhousing@housing.org or www.housing.org/housing-discrimination
▪ Stanislaus County Mediation Center, 1231 Eighth St., Ste. 425, 209-236-577 or email info@housing.orgwww.housing.org
The federal government has provided about $46 billion in emergency rental assistance to help low-income households nationwide in the pandemic.
States, cities and counties have administered rental assistance programs, but with very mixed results. The programs were plagued by slow processing of applications and payments, frustrating tenants and landlords.
That has been true for the Stanislaus Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which is a collaboration among Modesto, Stanislaus County, the Stanislaus Regional Housing Authority and other partners.
For instance, as of Aug. 25, the program had paid out $1.725 million — nearly 11% — of its $16.4 million in funding after about six months in operation. Officials have said some of the challenges include having to create a program from scratch, working out the bugs in a software program, and the federal government’s extensive reporting requirements.
But the program has handed over new applications to the state program while it focuses on processing its pending applications.
California has streamlined its application process and made other changes. As a result, the state has seen about a ninefold increase in payments in three months, from about $73 million paid out as of June 28 to $649 million as of Monday.
