The unprecedented rent relief is going to affect the state presently, which may access to success and failure of the reliefs. Twenty-four members of the team of officials, advocates, landlords, tenants, and volunteers are examined by Cal Matters in various ways and studies about rent relief in California.
∙ The public or tenants who have voluntarily shifted to non-expensive housing or take out loans to pay their rent are not eligible for this relief fund.
∙ By turning down rent relief by some landlords and they are still evicting their tenants irregularly.
∙ Most of the mom-and-pop landlords are leaving their markets for not covering the cost clearance and struggling with heavy regulations.
∙ Legal protections against tenants are not being preserved due to lack of laws and lack of access to legal representation due to lack of understanding.
∙ Rent relief funds are largely unknown to distribute to tenants. Moreover, bigger cities saying that funds are not yet all-sufficient. Here the crisis of funds distribution occurs may result in fund error.
Landlords Are In-Charge
The government initiated a new law that tends to allow landlords to collect aid totaling 80% of unpaid rent from May 2020 to March 2021 until they let off the rest.
Tenants Who are Covered
The people who are living in CA can also apply for relief, to pay utility bills, and also 30% of future rent. Tenants may get covered for April, May, and June 2021, if funding allows.
Tenants Who are not Covered
The back rent relief doesn't cover people who live with cheaper rent, moved out to stay with family, and those who pay with a credit card; because the law is only designed to protect people from eviction. Most of the tenants are saying that the law is not correctly doing that.
Tenants can collect 25% of the rent whereas Landlords can turn down the 80% deal in this aspect, and the rest of their debt relegated to small claims court.
Issues Faced By Small Landlords
Due to the pandemic turning it into a liability, the income rises to convert to steady mode. Owners are in trouble all the time; one tenant went five-month without paying rent before disappearing. While looking into another person who does not pay rent for one year. The majority of loss occurs to landlords also.
There was an example of landlords in Los Angeles; a researcher discovered that more than a third of landlords with one to five properties couldn’t survive these conditions.
If Mom-and-Pop landlords call it quits, many groups are worried about what is going to happen for rent prices, tenant welfare, and generational wealth for people.
State Has Offered Three Options on Rent Relief Program [1]
- The state can do it for them,
- The city or county can do it themselves
- The jurisdiction can distribute its share of federal dollars using its own rules and let the state distribute the rest.
Application Requirements
Documents such as federal tax withholding forms, lease and mortgage information from landlords, and proof of loss of income from tenants are required to apply for the program money allotment.
REFERENCE:
https://www.pe.com/2021/04/28/how-much-is-rent-relief-helping-californians/amp/
Published by: Book Club
Source: NewsService
Release ID: 18022