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'A Tsunami of Evictions' If California Doesn't Act Now, Warn Housing Advocates

Posted by Dan Fritz at Wednesday, August 12, 2020 at 8:17 PM

Housing advocates sounding the alarm over Zoom on Tuesday

Dan Fritz | KPFK

A coalition of housing advocates, labor and business groups and political allies sounded the alarm this week ahead of statewide pandemic eviction protections expiring Friday.
 
Francisco Dueñas, Executive Director of Housing Now, says there are just a couple days left before a tsunami of evictions starts up across the state.
 
"California renters are almost out of time," said Francisco Dueñas, Executive Director of Housing Now, on a Tuesday morning online news conference.
 
The coalition is urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a bill, AB 1436, that would stop evictions due to non-payment until 90 days after the coronavirus pandemic has ended.
 
"If this bill fails to pass, the consequences will be stark and ugly, and nothing short of dystopian," said L.A. City Council member Mike Bonin. says that without this bill, L.A. county's already terrible housing situation would get much worse.
 
"We already have in Los Angeles County tens of thousands of people living on the streets in tents. If this bill fails to pass, and the tsunami of evictions is allowed to take place in the state of California, we will have, across the state, one million families who will face eviction. We will have 365,000 families in L.A. County alone. 184,000 of those families have children. Not passing AB 1436 is the equivalent of passing an 'Evict Children' Act."
 
Under AB 1436, landlords would be encouraged to accept rent repayment agreements after the moratorium of 90 days after the all-clear is given on the COVID pandemic.
 
Supporters also called for federal action on rent forgiveness in order to help tenants with the mountain of debt they're dealing with due to COVID19. But they say AB 1436 is needed on the state level to keep people safely housed now.
 
AB 1436 has stalled in Sacramento during the committee process over opposition representing property owners, who say if the bill passes, there will be nothing stopping rental owners from losing their properties.
 
 

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