This week in affordable housing news…:

State update:

• Governor Newsom signed a bill extending California’s eviction moratorium through at least June 2021 and created a new program for distributing $2.6 billion in federal rent relief to lower-income tenants and property owners. The Legislature passed the legislation, SB 91, on Thursday, only a few days before the state’s current eviction moratorium was set to expire at the end of January.

• The bill allows tenants to avoid eviction if they pay at least 25% of the rent they owe per month. The legislation also allocates California’s share of the $25 billion in rent relief approved by Congress in December: Under the state’s new program, landlords will be to collect up to 80% of unpaid rent during the pandemic—provided adequate funds are available.

• The state’s new financial assistance program prioritizes communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, with the first round of funding being made available to households earning under 50% of area median income. Additional funding rounds will include households earning under 80% of AMI.

• A detailed bill analysis prepared by the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee is here. CHC’s response to the legislation is here.

Federal update:

• President Biden’s nominee for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), shared her views on affordable housing, fighting systemic racism, and the need for additional renter assistance at her confirmation hearing this week before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

• In addition to bolstering fair housing protections and expanding access to affordable housing, Fudge said she would focus first on keeping lower-income groups housed during the pandemic: “My first priority as secretary would be to alleviate that crisis and get people the support they need to come back from the edge,” Fudge said, noting that the $25 billion approved by Congress for rental assistance will not be enough. President Biden has proposed an additional $1.7 trillion stimulus package that would include another $30 billion in funding to support renters.

• Earlier this week, President Biden issued an executive order seeking to strengthen anti-discrimination housing policies rolled back by the Trump Administration—including Fair Housing Act requirements that programs “affirmatively further” fair housing. The President’s order noted that his Administration will seek to “work with communities to end housing discrimination, to provide redress to those who have experienced housing discrimination, to eliminate racial bias and other forms of discrimination in all stages of home-buying and renting, to lift barriers that restrict housing and neighborhood choice, to promote diverse and inclusive communities, to ensure sufficient physically accessible housing, and to secure equal access to housing opportunity for all.”

ICYMI – Top news stories:

California lawmakers vote to extend eviction moratorium. Here’s what it means for renters
San Francisco Chronicle
California will freeze evictions for some struggling tenants for five more months as it prepares to give out billions of dollars in rent relief. State legislators on Thursday approved SB 91, extending the state’s partial eviction moratorium through the end of June and creating a program to distribute $2.6 billion in emergency rental assistance that California received through the coronavirus aid package that the federal government passed last month. The plan was broadly criticized as imperfect. Lawmakers worried that its voluntary terms would shortchange many vulnerable tenants of its full benefits and expressed doubt that it included enough money to meet the needs of property owners who have gone months without rent payments. But they agreed that urgent action was needed to prevent the current moratorium from expiring at the end of this month.

HUD nominee Marcia Fudge to push for rental assistance, affordable housing amid coronavirus crisis
Washington Post
If confirmed as secretary of housing and urban development, Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) will confront the immediate challenge of keeping millions of Americans from losing their homes amid the coronavirus pandemic, while also ending discriminatory housing policies as part ofPresident Biden’s push to dismantle systemic racism. Fudge, 68, appeared remotely before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for her confirmation hearing Thursday. Fudge, the former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus who previously served as Warrensville Heights’ first African American and first female mayor, said that in addition to bolstering fair housing protections and expanding access to affordable housing, her most urgent task is providing rental assistance to households at risk of eviction.