This week in affordable housing news…

State policy activity:

• Negotiations continue this week on legislation to protect California renters facing the expiration of eviction restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 emergency. AB 1436 (Chiu), is emerging as the likely vehicle, after a Senate proposal, SB 1410 (Caballero, Bradford), did not advance out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Thursday.
• Governor Newsom said Friday that providing eviction protections for renters is “one of our top priorities”—and noted the Administration and Legislature are working overtime to reach a deal before a September 1 expiration date for the state’s existing eviction protections.
• In its current form, AB 1436 would prevent the eviction of renters unable to pay rent during the COVID-19 emergency—and give renters 12 months to repay back rent, starting from 90 days after California’s state of emergency ends. Lawmakers are negotiating over provisions that would compensate landlords for missed rent payments by requiring lenders to provide mortgage forbearance options. 
• In other state policy activity this week, several major housing production bills stalled this week—causing a growing number of advocates to raise serious concerns about the narrowing scope of this year’s remaining housing legislation. CHC highlighted this issue in a statement last week. Governor Newsom acknowledged today that the pandemic has made it more difficult to pass legislation that increases housing production.

Federal action:

• At their national political convention this week, leading Democrats said affordable housing would be a top priority in a Biden administration—including reinstating the Fair Housing Rule and Interagency Council on Homelessness. “I hope that one day we’re going to say…there’s no reason that anybody should not have a safe, decent, affordable place to live, and most importantly we won’t just say it or think it, we’ll act on it,” said former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Julián Castro.
• With talks still stalled on a new round of federal stimulus, CNN reports “a growing sense of panic” gripping many lower-income households, who stopped receiving $600-a-week unemployment benefits in July. “Having received various support, people were managing their fear,” Behnaz Mansouri, an attorney at the Unemployment Law Project in Washington. “But they no longer have that financial safety net.”
• The Trump Administration’s executive orders on the issue, meanwhile, seem to be adding to the confusion—with funding and distribution problems preventing assistance from being distributed. Trump’s orders also continue to face legal scrutiny.  

ICYMI – Top news stories:

Democrats say affordable housing would be a top priority in a Biden administration
The Hill
Democrats on Tuesday said there has been a lack of federal leadership on affordable housing under President Trump and that the issue would be a top priority in a Biden administration. Speaking at The Hill’s virtual event on affordable housing, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Julián Castro, who was also a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, said former Vice President Joe Biden would reinstate many of the housing policies implemented during the Obama-era that were subsequently rolled back by Trump.

‘There Is No Redo On This’: Eviction Crisis Looms As Lawmakers’ Timeline Dwindles
Capital Public Radio – Sacramento
Californians who have fallen behind on housing payments due to the coronavirus are set to lose protections and could face evictions beginning Sept. 1—unless state lawmakers step in. “When the temporary eviction ban expires, all renters in our state will immediately owe any and all unpaid rent at once,” Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) said Tuesday. “If we don’t change state law in the next two weeks, we will see a massive wave of evictions. This will be catastrophic for tenants, property owners, homelessness and COVID-19 spread.”

The tough questions pushing California to an eviction cliff
CalMatters
Governor Gavin Newsom doesn’t want it to happen. Neither do powerful leaders in the state Legislature. Tenant groups desperately want to prevent it, and landlord associations say they also want to avoid it so long as they don’t bear an unfair portion of the cost.  Seemingly all of the important actors trying to find a solution to the so-called “eviction wave” looming over California have a strong incentive to strike a deal. But with less than two weeks before the state court system ends its temporary moratorium on eviction cases, state lawmakers are confronting a host of thorny legal, political and practical questions that are making a workable compromise difficult.