California Will Use $5.2 Billion Federal Coronavirus Funds to Bail Out Delinquent Renters

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) will use $5.2 billion of federal coronavirus stimulus aid to bail out California’s delinquent renters.

“That appears to be more than enough to cover all of the unpaid rent in the state, according to Jason Elliott, senior counselor to Newsom on housing and homelessness,” the Associated Press reported.

But California says it may not be able to compensate landlords with the sum of money before June 30, when state and federal eviction moratoriums will expire from coronavirus-related measures.

The AP reported California’s “Department Housing and Community Development showed that of the $490 million in requests for rental assistance through May 31, just $32 million has been paid.”

“That doesn’t include the 12 cities and 10 counties that run their own rental assistance programs,” it continued.

State leaders are mulling how to allocate the $5.2 billion with the June 30 deadline approaching.

Meanwhile, property manager Keith Becker told the AP his “14 tenants are more than $100,000 behind in rent payments,” placing large financial strain on him to continue to pay the mortgage so the delinquent tenets have a roof over their heads.

“We should do our best to get back to the starting point where we were in December of 2019. Anything other than that is taking advantage of a crisis,” he said.

San Francisco Democrat and chairman of the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee Assemblyman, David Chiu, told the AP, “It’s challenging to set up a new, big program overnight.”

“It has been challenging to educate millions of struggling tenants and landlords on what the law is,” he added.