CHC is closely monitoring the state and federal response to COVID-19—and we are working with our members to preserve and protect access to affordable housing:

California situation:

• Citing the rising number of COVID-19 infections across California, Governor Newsom ordered the statewide closure this week of a range of activities and business operations that were only allowed for the first time in June, from indoor dining and hair salons to church services.
• The Newsom Administration also released an updated “Monitoring List” of the 33 counties that are experiencing “elevated disease transmission,” “increasing hospitalization,” and/or “limited hospital capacity.” All of the state’s major metropolitan areas are on the list.
• The Governor also announced new rules for reopening schools in the fall, requiring counties to be removed from the state Monitoring List for at least 14 days before in-person instruction will be allowed. Newsom called for other forms of instruction to continue: “Learning is non-negotiable,” the Governor said on Friday. “The virus will be with us for a year or more, and school districts must provide meaningful instruction in the midst of this pandemic.”
• The state Employment Development Department reports that the unemployment rate dropped to 14.9% in June as employers added more than 558,000 jobs with the reopening of the economy. By comparison, the highest unemployment rate during the Great Recession was 12.3%.

Federal action:

• With the Senate returning from summer recess next week, expectations are rising for a new round of federal stimulus to support state and local governments that have seen their budgets devastated by the COVID-19 response. 
• “Congress must act decisively to avoid repeating mistakes of the recovery from the Great Recession,” Ben Bernanke, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, wrote in a New York Times op-ed this week—noting that the lack of more substantial support for state and local governments in 2009 “meaningfully slowed the recovery.”

State policy activity:

• In California, the Senate and Assembly extended their summer recess amidst the COVID-19 resurgence and positive test results from several members of the Assembly. Both houses are now expected to resume session on July 27, either in-person or virtually. The legislative session ends on August 31.