Housing Now Candidate Checklist - Housing Now! California

Stop the Eviction Bomb

Housing Now Candidate Checklist - Housing Now! California

Will your California Senate Representative Defuse the Eviction Time Bomb or side with their corporate donors?

Contact your Senator today: Tell your Senator to defuse the eviction time bomb.

California State Senator

Who Does Your Legislator Represent?

Will they Defuse the Eviction Time Bomb?

Senator Lena Gonzalez
Senate District 33

Over 3 million renters are registered to vote in Los Angeles County, nearly 10% live in Senate District 33.

Senator Gonzalez received over $55,000 from Real Estate Interests including the CA Apartment Association in the last year.

Senator Tom Umberg
Senate District 34

There are nearly 736,000 renters who vote living in Orange County. Over 197,000 live in Senate District 34.

Senator Umberg received over $33,000 from real estate interests in less than a year - $9,400 in recent contributions from the CA Apartment Association.

Senator Henry Stern
Senate District 27

There are over 3.3 million renters who vote in Los Angeles and Ventura County counties. 239,000 reside in SD 27 currently represented by Henry Stern.

Senator Stern received over $3,000 from real estate interests in the last year. $2,500 from the CA Apartment Association.

Background:

Corporate landlords have spent millions on lobbying and campaign contributions to influence California legislators. Our leaders have just a few weeks to act before an eviction time bomb explodes, leaving tens of thousands of renters on the street.

Will your legislator defuse the eviction time bomb by voting yes on the COVID-19 Tenant and Homeowner Relief Act of 2020 (AB1436), or will they deliver for their donors and ignore the countless California renters that will be forced from their homes?

Thanks to Those Prioritizing Vulnerable Renters:

Thank you to our California Legislators who have committed to Stop the Eviction Bomb and pass the COVID-19 TENANT AND HOMEOWNER RELIEF ACT OF 2020.

Assembly Members:
David Chiu, Richard Bonta, Lorena Gonzalez, Monique Limón, Miguel Santiago, Buffy Wicks, Wendy Carrillo, Ash Kalra, Adrin Nazarian, Sharon Quirk-Silva, and Luz Rivas

Senators:
Ben Allen, Maria Elena Durazo, Bob Wieckowski, and Scott Wiener

Eviction Time Bomb in the Media:

Editorial: California faces an eviction catastrophe. Newsom, lawmakers need to act now

 

Editorial: What lawmakers have to do to keep Californians home

 

NPR:  Tsunami' Of Evictions Feared As Extra $600 Unemployment Payments End



Eviction Time Bomb Facts:

  • The 7.3 million Californians who filed unemployment claims during the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the housing crisis.
  • Pre-COVID, only 25% of Californians had enough savings to survive more than three months without work.
  • In a recent Census Bureau survey, 22% of households said they didn’t expect to make their next monthly rent or mortgage payment.
  • July 31st saw the end of the $600 supplemental unemployment check many tenants depended on to pay rent while unemployed.

COVID-19 TENANT AND HOMEOWNER RELIEF ACT OF 2020 (AB 1436)

A unique coalition of mom and pop landlords, renters, homeowners, and community leaders have come together to demand sweeping relief for those most impacted by the current pandemic. Opposing this growing coalition is the deep pocketed corporate real estate industry, fronted by the CA Apartment Association.

AB 1436 is the first step needed to prevent evictions and provide security to renters and homeowners amid the worst economic downturn in modern history.

Call on your State leaders to prioritize Stopping the COVID Evictions and Foreclosures by passing AB 1436, and then working to move additional solutions that help homeowners, give financial support to small landlords, and address the homeless crisis.

Authored by Assemblymember David Chiu, AB 1436 will keep millions of renters housed, especially Black and Brown tenants who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and are more likely to be rent-burdened than any other communities.

Good for Tenants, Good for Landlords, Good for the Community:

Good for Tenants:

  • Provides that a tenant cannot be evicted due to unpaid rent accrued during the COVID-19 emergency until the earlier of: April 1, 2021 or 90 days after the COVID-19 emergency ends.
  • Gives tenants 12 months from the end of the COVID-19 emergency declaration to arrange for voluntary repayment before unpaid rent is considered in default, protecting tenants’ credit and ability to rent in the future.
  • Allows tenants and landlords to make voluntary written repayment arrangements, provided the agreements don’t lead to the renter owing more than the amount of unpaid rent due from the COVID-19 period, and requires landlords to account for any assistance they have received if they enter such an agreement or pursue collection of the debt.

Good for Homeowners and Small Landlords:

  • Provides property owners with COVID-19 financial impacts with up to 12 months of mortgage forbearance for residential properties (i.e., 1-4 unit dwellings) and up to 180 days for multi-family properties (i.e., those with 5 or more units).
  • Allows for mortgage forbearance requests to be submitted until the earlier of: April 1, 2021 or 90 days after the COVID-19 emergency ends.
  • Requires mortgage servicers to work with borrowers on options after forbearance to avoid lump sum repayments for residential properties (1- 4 unit properties).

Good for Community:

  • Now more than ever, we need our California lawmakers to support tenants, landlords, and homeowners by passing AB1436 and working toward bold solutions to keep Californians from losing their homes and addressing the affordable housing crisis.

Help Pass AB 1436. Find the Fact Sheet HERE (pdf)



Who is Blocking Affordable Housing Reform?

The deep pocketed corporate landlord lobby led by the CA Apartment Association has spent tens of millions of dollars in the last two years in political contributions to block progress on affordable housing and solutions for small landlords and renters. Their lobbying and political contributions have stopped important policy solutions and led to massive increases in homelessness all across the state, especially in Los Angeles, Orange, Sacramento, and San Diego Counties.

In the last year alone, CAA has been part of nearly a dozen different Political Action Committees to move over $4.7 million in contributions to candidates, the Democratic and Republican Party political funds and in coalition PACS with names like: Keeping Californians Working, California Labor Business Alliance, and Citizens for Fair and Equitable Housing.