State lawmakers are reconvening today, and they’re expected to introduce a pair of bills aimed at extending eviction protections for Californians. Tenants like Kristina Soriano and Jonas Di Gregorio, who have been struggling to keep up with rent, say it can’t come soon enough. The couple both lost their jobs during the pandemic; Soriano taught music at an afterschool program, and Di Gregorio worked as a server in a restaurant.
"It's very stressful. Just the unknowing of it," said Soriano.
They have mostly gotten by on the income that Soriano brings in teaching Zoom piano lessons and by dipping into their savings.
"Our savings. We don't know exactly know how much they will last, so it's very uncertain," said Di Gregorio.
Because of renter protections that California passed earlier this year, the two can’t be evicted from their San Francisco studio as long as they keep paying 25% of their monthly rent. But the rest of the money will come due when the statewide protections expire on Jan. 31, and lawmakers will have to work quickly to pass a bill that would extend the protections through next year. A two-thirds vote is required for passage.
"If tens of thousands of folks are forced from their homes, COVID will be much more likely to spread and have devastating consequences," said Assemblymember David Chiu, D-San Francisco, the bill's sponsor.
A second bill by Chiu is a work in progress that aims to put relief into the hands of renters and landlords, who already face mounting debts.
California renters could owe $1.7 billion in back rent by the end of this year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
Brian Augusta, the legislative advocate for the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, said it's necessary to have a "very critical conversation" about how to cope with a debt crisis, plus "the potential foreclosure crisis that we're facing as a result of many months of renters being unable to to make the rent in California."
But California legislators say the state can’t fund rent relief on its own. They’re pinning their hopes on the federal government and the possibility of another stimulus package.
—Molly Solomon (@solomonout)