California’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) is set to expire on 3/31. Renters must APPLY TO THE PROGRAM BEFORE 4/1 by visiting HousingIsKey.com or by calling 833-430-2122.
DON’T MOVE! WE ARE STILL FIGHTING TO EXTEND RENT RELIEF AND DEMAND THE RIGHT TO IMPLEMENT LOCAL EVICTION PROTECTIONS!
Call the Governor Gavin Newsom (916-445-2841), Senator Toni Atkins (916-651-4039) and Rep. Antony Rendon (916-319-2063)!
Demands & Talking Points:
- Extend the ERAP program & eviction protections.
- Lift local preemptions to let cities protect tenants.
- The pandemic continues & tenants aren’t able to afford basic needs.
- 10% of renter households have no confidence they can pay April rent.
- ERAP’s failures, inaccessibility & delays should NOT = more evictions!
More information on the issue and what’s at stake:
Governor Newsom and CA legislators must extend the ERAP program until all renters struggling to pay rent during the pandemic are assisted as promised. They should extend and expand eviction protections and must lift their preemptions on local jurisdictions, so that cities can maintain the ability to protect their residents from eviction and homelessness. SF and LA have already passed local ordinances to protect tenants from eviction for COVID-related nonpayment of rent starting April 1, 2022. The state should not prevent cities from keeping tenants housed despite ERAP’s failures, inaccessibility and delays.
Assemblymembers Buffy Wicks and Tim Grayson have introduced AB 2179 to appease real estate lobbyists and harm struggling tenants with NO INPUT FROM TENANT ORGS. It merely extends court procedures for three months, suggesting tenants shouldn’t be evicted during that period if they filed for rent relief before 3/31. We know many tenants waiting for rent relief have already been harassed and evicted despite laws stating they’re protected. AB 2179’s biggest failures: it doesn’t extend ERAP, and it preempts cities from protecting tenants who can’t pay rent in April or beyond. The state is abdicating responsibility for tenants who continue to be financially impacted by the pandemic while preventing local jurisdictions from intervening to protect these tenants. By design, there is no time to amend this harmful legislation. Governor Newsom and state legislators are once again prioritizing real estate profits over tenants’ lives.
Unfortunately, Housing and Community Development hasn’t addressed major access barriers in the state program, which has already been undeserving those most likely to have rent debt and ongoing financial impacts from the pandemic.
Despite failed state leadership, we will continue to fight to make sure tenants are not evicted. We should not have to use a resource-heavy, individualized approach to intervene in a structural problem, but we have a community ready to fight. In San Francisco, we have built a strong network of tenant rights groups, a robust tenant right to counsel program, and a rent relief program that we won local funding for through the passage of Proposition I.
As always, call our counselors if you need advice or are facing harassment and eviction!