With the novel coronavirus pandemic spreading rapidly in Contra Costa County, housing advocates are calling on the board of supervisors to extend an eviction moratorium order that is scheduled to expire next week.
As of today, the county had recorded a total of 4,605 COVID-19 cases and 89 deaths, according to Contra Costa Health Services.
And while some pandemic-related restrictions have been lifted on business activities, the county’s unemployment rate clocked in at 13.6 percent on May 1, the latest date for which there is data from the California Employment Development Department.
Combined, these numbers indicate that the health care and economic fallout from the pandemic is far from over.
“Contra Costa is fairing worse than most other inner Bay Area counties, both when it comes to rates of infection and on unemployment, which bears on the ability for people to pay the rent,” said Alex Werth with the East Bay Housing Organizations.
A report released Wednesday by the Bay Area Equity Atlas details the risks specifically faced by the county’s renters, who make up about one-third of Contra Costa’s population.
The report found that 12,000 households, including 10,400 children, are at “imminent risk of eviction” if the board of supervisors fails to extend the eviction moratorium, which it first approved in April and then extended in May.
Additionally, 9,500 households could be at risk of eviction once the federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program ends at the end of July, according to the report.
“We consider this conservative (since) this only considers households with no replacement income after becoming unemployed,” said the report’s author Jamila Henderson, a senior associate at PolicyLink, which manages the Equity Atlas in partnership with the San Francisco Foundation and the University of Southern California Program for Environmental and Regional Equity.
“If 10 percent of the currently at-risk households became homeless, that would lead to a 21 percent increase in homelessness,” the report says. “This would cause immeasurable despair and disruption for families. And it would exacerbate the county’s racial inequities: already, Black people represent 34 percent of the county’s unhoused population though they comprise just 8 percent of county residents.”
The report notes that Black and Latino renters, especially women, are particularly vulnerable, since they are disproportionately burdened by low-wages and high rents.
Also, there are about 65,000 undocumented immigrants in Contra Costa County who are ineligible for unemployment compensation.
“It’s these groups that would be disproportionately affected by the moratorium’s end, but it would also exacerbate the existing inequities in the county and make and an equitable recovery even more difficult,” Henderson said.
In addition to an extension of the eviction moratorium to 90 days after the current state of emergency ends, PolicyLink, East Bay Housing Organizations and Raise the Roof Coalition are asking that supervisors also prohibit evictions for non-payment of rent due to COVID-19, a policy already in place in Alameda and San Francisco counties.
Advocates are also calling for increased financial assistance, legal services for low-income tenants and for protections like rent control, a rent and eviction registry and a just cause eviction ordinance.
“Contra Costa’s protections are weaker than every other county other than Marin’s, which of course has a very different socio-economic profile,” Werth said.
The moratorium is set to expire on Wednesday and the supervisors are scheduled to consider another extension during their meeting Tuesday.
Board Chairwoman Candace Anderson thinks there is “a strong possibility” that supervisors will vote to extend the residential eviction moratorium.
Who long it will last and what, if any, changes will be made to the county’s eviction moratorium applied to commercial properties, will be among the topics discussed, Andersen said.
“I would not be surprised that we extended the (residential) moratorium, because we are in the middle of this crisis and the last thing we want is for people to be homeless,” she said.
She said she understands how difficult it will be, once the pandemic is over, for people to pay all of their past due rent while keeping up with their regular monthly payments.
“It’s not like people are saving money right now,” Andersen said.
“It’s going take people some time to figure out how to pay their rent, their past due rent. That’s where hopefully landlords and tenants can work together to figure out a payment plan that will work for them and not government
telling them what to do.”
I would love for someone to explain to me wby we are paying for homeless leeches to live in hotels but we won’t support working renters who pay taxes and support society. Those homeless people should be working eight hours a day picking up trash in order to earn their hotel room.
Lord knows the cities could use it. Seems like the Wuhan Flu also makes finding a trash receptacle nearly impossible. Going to a shopping center feels like I’ve gone to L.A.
I understand people who lost their jobs need help; you cannot pay your rent if you don’t get a paycheck. What I don’t understand is there is nothing mentioned in the article about assistance to the landlord. Most landlords are not wealthy and they need to pay mortgages, taxes, upkeep and all the other expenses coming from providing housing. Where is their help?
65,000 illegal aliens in Contra Costa County? Out of 1.1 million?
That’s like 6%.
We’re getting hosed.
Seems like an excellent time for illegals to return to their country of origin, and for the State and cities who have practiced “sanctuary” status policies to rescind those policies, concentrating instead on the protection of natural born and those here legally. Resources are going to be stretched thin in the near future and for some time to come and needs be allocated to law-abiding citizens. It’s the right thing to do.
I definitely don’t feel bad that they can’t get financial assistance. They’ve come here illegally, taken jobs that, especially now, Americans should have, and want free money. No sleep lost here….
Brazil is successfully using HCQ. Maybe our experts should humble themselves to using this method, rather than destroying America in solidarity to the Democrats. People are dieing because of Politics. American politics.
Timr to recall these crappy leaders! Please help vote them out! Sign those petitions!
The last sentence about “not government telling them what to do” is contrary to California’s politics and the Democrats methodology of operating. So I guess that won’t work here. Better suggest another option to compensate those landlords who are suffering.
Seems like it was the “government” who demanded SIP and only essential workers remain on the job, basically creating this problem. Now, they want to wash their hands of it with “… landlords and tenants can work together to figure out a payment plan that will work for them and not government telling them what to do.” Sounds like an outright double cross of landlords with no financial assistance to replace lost and reduced rental income.
Sure glad I don’t have rental property, and I can see a lot of people dumping theirs to the highest bidder in the near term. Sounds like County Supervisors have come up with a plan to convert large amounts of rental housing into free housing for the county’s chronically unemployed … at someone else’s expense.
How about cutting property taxes?
If we have money for:
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the $125 million coronavirus disaster relief fund last month to support undocumented immigrants who were ineligible for federal stimulus checks and unemployment benefits due to their immigration status.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/18/us/california-undocumented-immigrants-relief-fund-trnd/index.html
Why doesn’t Gavin just pay the rent for everybody. Or pay the mortgage for the landlords property. Is there a moratorium on banks taking back the landlord’s property if they can’t pay the mortgaget?
I agree. Government workers should live as socislists. The lowest common denominator in salary and benefits. Excellent idea! Everybody would win!
Why the assumption that all landlords are wealthy? Most are not. They still have to pay mortgages, taxes, insurance, HOA fees, utilities, etc. on their rentals. And how are they supposed to do that if there’s no rent coming in? Note that the supervisors didn’t give landlords a break on their property tax payments at the same time they gave these breaks to tenants. We simply must remember all of this when we vote again.
If you want people to live rent free then buy the buildings and invite whoever to live there rent free. Nearly all buildings in the country are available for purchase if you offer enough incentive to the current owner(s).
If as a Landlord I must provide free rent (which essentially what a moratorium is) I’ll put my rental property up for sale the next day.
Looks like the term “Marxist” is the new buzzword we get to look forward to being thrown around all willy nilly.
Let this be worked out by tenants and landlords, the county has no business interfering. Many renters have spoken of their ‘choice’ of not paying rent right now due to Newsoms eviction freeze, even while receiving increased nemoyment money weekly. Actions so far are 100% directed to bailout tenants and screw landlords. Eviction serves as only recourse, and is defined in the legal contract signed by both parties. The County can’t intervene.
“ asking that supervisors also prohibit evictions for non-payment of rent due to COVID-19”
Can we also get a moratorium on taxes? No sales tax, income tax, gasoline tax, property tax, estate tax, and alcohol tax.
While we’re at it, can we suspend bridge tolls and vehicle fee?
Lucky our house is paid for and we rent another house to our son that is paid for and our daughter and son in law rent another house we own them not paying rent is no big deal. We can write the losses off and actually make more money!