This week in affordable housing news…

State policy activity:

• Governor Newsom announced on Friday that a final deal had been reached to stave off a looming “eviction cliff” next week, when eviction restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 emergency are scheduled to expire. As many as four million Californians could be at risk of eviction because of unpaid rent.
• The final deal is outlined in AB 3088, a bill authored by Assemblymembers Chiu and Limón and Senators Bradford and Caballero, which went into print late this afternoon. The legislation extends eviction protections through January of next year—provided tenants file declarations saying they are suffering financial hardship due to COVID-19—while still allowing landlords to evict tenants who create disturbances or refuse to pay rent when they have the financial means to do so. The bill would allow some small landlords to receive mortgage forbearance through January.
• “We did land on an agreement on evictions,” Newsom said in a Friday press conference. “Broad strokes, we were able to accommodate each other’s points of view. Not everybody is pleased with every detail, that’s the nature of negotiation. But we did get an eviction deal done. And I look forward to signing it very, very shortly.”
• “This will not be the ultimate solution to addressing COVID-19 evictions, but will tide us over for the next five months,” said Assemblymember Chiu. “This gives us the time to reconsider our options next legislative session and potentially work with a new federal administration on economic relief for struggling tenants and property owners.”
• The legislation is expected to be voted on before the legislation ends on Monday. It will require a two-thirds majority to pass.

Federal action:

• In spite of the widespread, bipartisan support for affordable housing in Congress, the Republican National Convention highlighted several speakers with a disturbingly dim view of this critical resource.
• With both parties’ conventions now complete, affordable housing advocates concerned about a “historic eviction wave” are once again pushing Congress to advance the next stimulus package. The $600-a-week unemployment benefits included in the first phase of stimulus, which helped millions of tenants pay rent, expired at the end of July.
• Unemployed Californians could start receiving an additional $300-a-week in unemployment benefits in September after the state agreed to participate in a program made possible through an executive order signed by President Trump. Concerns have been raised, however, about whether low-income residents who need the most financial help will be eligible for the benefit.

ICYMI – Top news stories:

California housing bills run into wall of union resistance
San Francisco Chronicle
Despite promises that California’s housing shortage would be a priority this year, a package to streamline project approvals and spur more construction has been thinned out by conflicts over local control, gentrification and environmental protections, as well as the sheer lack of time in a session cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. Affordable-housing developers have raised concerns after numerous bills withered in the face of opposition from the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, a powerful advocate at the Capitol for legislation that could bring jobs to the hundreds of thousands of construction workers in its unions.

California Legislature shifts from zoning battles to looming ‘eviction cliff’
San Diego Union-Tribune
California faces a long-term housing affordability problem, but a more immediate housing crisis now has Sacramento’s attention. Lawmakers recently sidelined most, but not all, hotly disputed bills that would loosen zoning rules as the years-long fight over development across the state continues. Now they are faced with trying to keep the state from falling off a looming “eviction cliff” caused by the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout. Emergency rental assistance, expanded unemployment and eviction moratoriums are running out or have ended already. That’s a threat not only to renters, but to homeowners and landlords who, if they can’t pay their mortgage, could face foreclosure.

California unemployment: State gets fed funds to pay extra $300 amid coronavirus
San Jose Mercury News
California workers will be able to receive an additional $300 in unemployment benefits amid the coronavirus after the state agreed to participate in a program made possible through an executive order signed by President Donald Trump. The U.S. government’s Lost Wages Assistance Program is tapping the Federal Emergency Management Agency for funding. The program replaces a prior program that provided $600 in extra weekly benefits for jobless workers during the pandemic. “The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved the state’s application and will provide an initial amount of $4.5 billion, with the possibility of additional funding going forward,” the Employment Development Department stated in a post on its website.