An urgent plan that would give Los Angeles County renters hit hard by the economic toll of the novel coronavirus pandemic $1,000 per month for three months, was approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, April 14.
Under the Emergency Rent Assistance Program, the county will leverage its allotment of federal stimulus money, coupled with private funding, to provide rent aid to households, particularly hit hard by job losses and furloughs in the retail and service industries. The money would not need to be paid back, officials said.
What the board did Tuesday was direct the county’s Development Authority to secure federal funds for the yet-to-be-created program.
The action backs up a rent freeze and eviction moratorium already approved by the five-member board. It also comes on the heels of actions of cities in the county, which have moved on their own on support such as eviction moratoriums.
For instance, on March 23, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti issued a temporary moratorium on evictions for tenants not able to pay rent because of the impact of the pandemic. Later that month, the city expanded such protections to include a halt on rent increases.
Similar actions were approved in cities such as Pasadena and Long Beach.
Along with its devastating public health toll, the virus has brought economic activity to a halt across Southern California, the nation and much of the world.
To contain the spread, the county “stay home” order has been extended to May 15, with no guarantee it will be lifted soon after that, as the number of cases and deaths continue to rise. That’s left “non-essential” businesses to close down. And with the shutdown, millions of jobs have at least temporarily evaporated — jobs at local businesses who have either laid off or furloughed workers. And while the eviction moratoriums are helping, it doesn’t mean renters aren’t still on the hook for the back rent once the crisis over.
“Paying back the rent can be an impossible hurdle for many of our low-income families, who frankly were already struggling to make ends meet before this crisis even hit,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn, who along with Supervisor Hilda Solis introduced the program.
Solis noted that as it is in L.A. County, 57% of the region’s renters were already “rent burdened” and a third of them are “severely rent burdened,” meaning that many are only a “paycheck away from being homeless.” Supervisor Sheila Kuehl noted that that percentage has likely spiked as millions take an economic hit.
Supervisors stressed that the aid program will be part of a continuing effort, too, to ease the pain on the region’s landlords, many of whom have their own mortgages to pay.
Again, it will take time for the program to get on its feet across the county, and the number of families that will be helped by the program will depend on the level of funding, officials said Tuesday.
That funding will get tapped through what is expected to be a second round of money that LA County is expecting via the $2.2 trillion Federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The act was the largest of its kind in American history, injecting trillions into a national economy that basically shut down to contain the swift and exponential spread of the disease. More funding could come from philanthropy and private sources.
Federal funding + small business aid
The board also moved on Tuesday to make sure that the first round of funding is allocated. For starters, supervisors approved the allocation of $13.7 million in community block grant funds.
They also approved $6.6 million in Emergency Solutions Grant funds — vital money, officials said, in supporting the regions’s homeless and low-income populations. About $6.3 million was part of an agreement with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which is the leading agency to get homeless people housed.
The Solutions Grant funding will be allocated to 48 cities and unincorporated areas across the county. Some cities, such as L.A., Pasadena, Pomona, El Monte, are also seeking their own federal funding, officials said. Such funding flows to street outreach and homeless prevention programs.
The goal was to get that funding out in “short order,” Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said.
Board Chair Kathryn Barger said she’s been getting many calls from small businesses about how that emergency funding can help.
The supervisors also approved the creation of the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a public-private partnership that leaders say could provide key money to aid hundreds of small businesses and nonprofits in L.A. County.
Seeded with an early $12 million investment, the fund leans on private sector help to get going, with financial commitments from Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Wells Fargo Foundation, Citi Community Development and Union Bank Foundation, according to Ridley-Thomas.
The program would open up a new channel for up to $15 million of additional Paycheck Protection Program loans that target microenterprises and nonprofits. The Small Business Administration program aims to to incentivize small businesses to keep employees on the payroll during the crisis. Goldman Sachs’ national community development financial institution partner, Community Reinvestment Fund, USA (CRF), work through local partners to reach target businesses and nonprofits who might otherwise not have access to the PPP program through a traditional banking relationship, according to Ridley Thomas’ office.
Homeless
Officials on Tuesday also began formalizing the early outlines of a plan on what to do with the numbers of homeless people who have been sheltered during the pandemic, but who are at risk of falling back on to the streets one it is over.Through the state/county collaboration called Project Roomkey, the goal is bring 15,000 people off the street and into hotels and motels who have agreed to be part of the program during the pandemic.
The board signed off on a motion by Hahn and Ridley-Thomas to keep them housed once the crisis is over.
Of particular note was the question of how to keep homeless people who are 65 and older housed post-pandemic.
No one had easy answers, but officials agreed that a plan needs to be formulated over the next 45 days, in accordance with a framework of ideas created in the California’s Comprehensive Crisis Response Strategy to Address Homelessness Statewide.
“It is critical to start assembling post-COVID-19 plans to ensure that those whom have been temporarily housed are able to remain housed,” according to the motion.
