A proposal that could provide renters across Los Angeles County with $1,000 per month will be considered by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday as local leaders continue to try and stem the economic damage caused by COVID-19.
The emergency rental assistance item is being proposed by supervisors Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis, who want to leverage funding the county is receiving through the coronavirus relief package recently signed by the president.
The program would target families who were recently laid off from retail and service industry jobs, according to the text of the motion. If the new program is adopted and put into practice, any money received by tenants would not need to be repaid.
“This crisis has devastated families who were already living on the brink of poverty,” Hahn wrote on Twitter Thursday afternoon. “Our program would help keep people across the [county] in their homes & would lessen the long-term economic damage this pandemic will have on families.”
The county, like other cities within it, passed eviction moratoriums and rent freezes to help renters who been impacted by job loss or reduced hours from non-essential businesses that were forced to close down last month. However, those measures merely deferred rents, meaning that tenants will eventually have to pay them in full.
Last month Long Beach passed an eviction moratorium that would allow rent through June to be deferred, but would have to be paid in full by the end of November.
Hahn and Solis’ proposal seeks to leverage more of the $5 billion that congress allocated to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, $2 billion of which is being allocated to Community Development Block Grant programs that can help municipalities fund a number of projects to help improve impoverished communities.
It’s unclear who would qualify for such funding if the board of supervisors approve the motion Tuesday and are able to acquire additional funding from the federal government. A statement from Hahn and Solis said the board would also seek philanthropic and private sources.
Under the HUD’s guidance, CDBG funds can be used a number of activities like rehabilitation of structures, economic development and public services “within certain limits.”
However, whatever funding is used must one of a number of national objectives including benefiting low and moderate-income persons, preventing or eliminating blight or slums and addressing community development needs. There is, however, a provision that allows CDBG funds to be used for rental and mortgage payments.
Recipients of the money would likely have to fall under certain thresholds for income.
Over half of Los Angeles County is comprised of renters.
This assistance could help keep people in the county off the streets, Solis said.
“Housing stability is crucial for residents both during and after the COVID-19 crisis,” Solis said in a statement. “We know the County’s eviction moratorium helps protect renters against homelessness now, but it won’t help them once past-due rent needs to be paid back.”
The board of supervisors is expected to discuss the potential implementation of this program at its Tuesday, April 14 meeting. If the board approves the motion, it is expected to have a report back on the implementation of the program within 30 days.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting can be streamed live here at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 14.