Eviction Protection and Debt Relief (SB 91) Signed by Governor
Summary from the San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition (SFADC)
Senate Bill (SB) 91 (full text here) contains an extension of Assembly Bill 3088’s eviction moratorium as well as the outlines of a state rental assistance program. Look for updates and more detailed information from SFADC:
Eviction Protections
Extends the core protections of Assembly Bill (AB) 3088 to June 30, 2021.
- Tenants must still pay 25% of monthly rent to be covered. This can be paid monthly or in a lump sum paid before July 1, 2021.
- Tenants must still respond to a notice to pay rent with the required declaration within 15 days.
- We are still preempted from passing stronger local protections on non-payment evictions. However, the federal law allows stronger protections.
- Expanded AB 1482 just cause eviction protections.
New items:
- No late fees during covered period.
- Prohibits consideration of COVID-19 rental debt as a negative factor for prospective tenants.
- Prevents landlords from applying current tenant payments retroactively to back rent or other charges.
- Prohibits use of security deposit for arrears.
Loopholes closed in how debt can be collected via courts:
- Caps attorney fees for debt collection cases.
- Small claims filings can’t happen until August 1, and other court filings can’t happen until July 1 (but if your city opts out of the state rent relief program, this protection might be waived).
- Some incentives for landlords to participate in the state rent relief program/potential penalties if they don’t:
- Allows courts to reduce the damages awarded if the landlord refused help from the state rental assistance program for a tenant.
- Temporarily bans landlord sale of rent debt to 3rd parties (until July 1, 2021), and permanently prevents sale of this debt if tenant would have qualified for federal/state relief funds.
Rental Assistance
SB 91 establishes a program that uses the $2.61 billion in Federal Rental Relief money and can either be distributed by the state, or portions can be administered by local governments under specific terms. Tenant advocates are upset that this system allows landlords to opt in when it suits them (including for one tenant but not another) and opt out when it doesn’t. This is exactly what we have articulated as a concern locally, with long-term rent control tenants being shut out of assistance in order to flip their units.
Eligibility:
- Eligibility for this program is based on federal rules. Some national organizations are working to change these rules and reporting guidelines, but for now they are: incomes no more than 80% Area Median Income (AMI); documented financial hardships, and demonstrated risk of homelessness or housing instability.
- Priority will be given to incomes of no more than 50% AMI.
Program terms:
- Landlords can apply for funding and receive up to 80% of a tenant’s unpaid rent from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021 in exchange for forgiving the remaining 20% of the tenant’s rent.
- If the landlords don’t participate in the program, tenants can apply individually but then are only eligible for 25% of the rent you owed for April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021, which is enough to avoid eviction, but does not eliminate all your debt. However, a landlord’s refusal to participate with a qualifying tenant could mean that they will not be eligible to collect the full back rent if they sue the tenant for the the debt.
- For the months after March 2021, program pays 25% of up to three months of future rent. Assistance is paid to landlord directly.
- Prohibits landlords from proceeding with an eviction if they have not first notified the tenant about the rental assistance program.
Local ability to administer funds:
- Cities and counties with a population greater than 200,000 will get some money directly from the federal government (that money is included in the $2.61 billion figure) and can also choose to administer a portion of funding that would come from the state as a block grant.
- Cities/counties receiving the block grant have to use the same state rules. “Additional scrutiny will be placed on large counties not accepting a block grant and administering their own program to ensure program integrity.”
