Eviction Moratorium Deadline Looms
Renters and property owners are keeping a close eye on the calendar for October 3. That’s the day that the federal government tentatively will lift its freeze on COVID-19 related evictions.
Late last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended its previous moratorium by a few days from its previous September 30 deadline. As people were losing jobs and work due to the pandemic in early 2020, the CDC asked for a federal 120-day freeze on all evictions if renters couldn’t pay, citing the decision as a reaction to the national state of emergency. The latest extension comes as CDC said the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus poses an ongoing health emergency.
California’s and Alameda County’s eviction protections for residential and commercial rentals were set to expire on September 30 but will likely follow the CDC’s guidance. Last week, national and California landlord associations filed lawsuits claiming they’re losing between $13.8 and $19 billion each month in unpaid rent. In late May, the Urban Institute estimated the amount of back rent then-owed to be about $50 billion.
The eviction freeze deadline has repercussions for nearly half of those living in Alameda County. Data published from the 2020 American Community Survey census data identified 46.5% percent of homes, apartments and other residential properties identified as rentals, which is the second most renter percent of all the counties in the Bay Area, behind San Francisco.
The data shows the unincorporated neighborhoods saw a a higher percentage of owner-occupied housing than the county (61% vs. 53.5%). There is also a great deal of variation between the various unincorporated county neighborhoods. For example, Castro Valley and San Lorenzo are predominantly comprised of ownership housing, whereas most of the housing in Ashland is rentals
The CDC’s eviction moratorium shifts the pandemic’s financial burdens to landlords—80% of whom are individuals and small businesses that manage 10 or fewer units, according to East Bay Rental Housing Association (EBRHA) CEO, Derek Barnes.
“This possible tsunami of evictions coming is a heavy burden on everyone,” Barnes said. “Housing providers are not in the business of evictions, so a lot of our members have tried to work with their renters on paying the rent with the federal relief packages. If renters can’t pay rent, owners have a hard time paying their own mortgage and utilities.”
There are relief efforts for both renters and landlords in the form of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). The federal aid package of $2.6 billion in December 2020 was followed by an additional $2.6 billion in March 2021. Governor Newsom added another $5.2 billion of state funds to the pot making $10.4 billion available for Californians needing rental help.
The problem is that the funds can be limited if certain criteria are not met. For example, California received 132 thousand applications. Of those, only 90,000 of the applications were eligible because they were related to COVID losses, which represents only $250 million of 90K at the state level. The local jurisdictions also can prioritize households that meet federal poverty levels: 30% or less of the median income. Since April, EBRHA has been able to assist only 170 applications from its membership in the process of getting federal assistance, Barnes said.
“The system is broken and needs to be fixed,” Barnes said. “Applications need faster approval. And if the moratorium expires, we would like the government to at least process the existing applications and ensure that the recipients have COVID-related reasons for asking for these funds.”
The process of applying for the (ERAP) is expected to become a bit easier for both the rental manager and the person renting. Alameda County Supervisors voted last week to issue grant money to EBRHA to help bridge even more households file the papers and get the federal relief money.