Newsom announced that he will pay off all past-due rent accumulated in California because of the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, promising to make landlords whole with a new $5 billion fund.
Paying Californians back rent would fulfill a promise to help landlords break even and give renters a clean slate, according to reports this week. “Anybody that’s impacted by this pandemic that can’t pay their rent and can’t afford their water bill or their utility bill... California will pay those bills - 100%,” Newsom stated.
Newsom’s senior counselor on housing and homelessness said that the state has about $5.2 billion from federal aid packages approved by Congress to pay off people’s rent, which they believe would be enough to cover all that is owed.
One thing that is still unclear is whether California will continue to ban evictions for unpaid rent beyond June 30. That is the date the state’s eviction moratorium is set to expire. Governor Newsom and other state officials will be "meeting privately" to discuss the extension.
Some housing advocates are asking the state to keep the eviction ban in place until the unemployment rate among low-wage workers has dropped to pre-pandemic levels and Governor Newsom told Univision earlier this month that he "definitely" wants to extend the eviction moratorium beyond June 30.
But how did California get in this situation?
“We locked down the state in a draconian manner, hurting our economy, destroying jobs, forcing small businesses to close when he never needed to do it,” stated Carl DeMaio. “His damage is going to be long lasting,” DeMaio continued.
Newsom has been busy traveling up and down the state promising to give out “free” money that he acquired during the pandemic. “Free rent” appears to be yet another shallow attempt to save himself from the recall.
Listen to Carl talk about Newsom’s latest attempt HERE.
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