Adam Schooley, of Los Osos, owes more than $4,000 in back rent to his landlord after he lost his job in December for the second time during the pandemic.
So in March, when the state announced a new rent relief program that would assist the estimated 900,000 California households also behind on rent due to COVID-19 hardships, Schooley applied on Day One.
“I’ve never missed rent payments before, even credit card payments,” said Schooley, who worked as a manager in the San Luis Obispo County hospitality industry. “This is something I never expected to come up in my life.”
To avoid eviction from his apartment, Schooley paid 25 percent of his rent using unemployment benefits, while anticipating that the state would come through with aid before the statewide “eviction moratorium” lifted on June 30.
But three months later, with that June 30 deadline soon approaching, Schooley hasn’t seen a dime from the program yet—neither has he received word from the state that his application was approved, he said.
“Since the end of April, I’ve been unable to get any information from official sources. … My case manger stopped replying to my emails and phone calls,” Schooley said on June 18. “I’m still $4,000 in the hole since January, and I’m expected to pay that in 13 days. I’m scared. I have no idea what’s going to happen.”
Schooley isn’t alone. California is facing a mountainous backlog of applications for its rent relief program from tenants and landlords. Recent data reported by Cal Matters indicates that only $50 million of the $1.4 billion allocated to the program has been delivered to households thus far.
Delays aren’t the only problem with the program. Stakeholders also criticized its cumbersome application (which the state has revised to improve simplicity); its commitment to refund landlords only 80 percent of their owed rent, which leaves tenants in a position to receive only 25 percent if a landlord doesn’t participate; and its exclusion of tenants who’d gone into credit card debt to pay their rent.
“The application was very long initially,” said Steve Ortiz, CEO of the United Way of Santa Barbara County, which has assisted Santa Maria households with rent relief applications. “The guidelines were restrictive. But I think they’ll start moving faster now.”
Given the hiccups, most stakeholders anticipate that the Legislature will extend eviction protections past June 30 and tweak the program’s parameters to refund tenants and landlords for all owed rent (instead of 80 or 25 percent). But as of press time, those decisions were still up in the air.
“It’s all predicated on the Legislature,” said Janna Nichols, executive director of the Five Cities Homeless Coalition, a nonprofit based out of Grover Beach. “I think we’re going to get there. I think they’re going to work it all out.”
Two counties, two experiences
While tenants in SLO County, like Schooley, anxiously await word from the state about rent relief, about 1,000 households in Santa Barbara County have already received payments.
That’s because Santa Barbara County decided to administer a local rent relief program that ran parallel to the state’s—an option given to all counties back in March. Basically, California gave counties the chance to get federal funding to run a localized rental assistance program, or defer that money and responsibility to the state.
Santa Barbara County opted to partner with United Way to run a $12 million local program, which is helping eligible tenants cover 100 percent of their owed rent and utilities. As of June 18, Ortiz said about $8.4 million had gone out to 1,001 households—including $3.6 million to supervisorial Districts 4 and 5, which include the Santa Maria Valley.
“I think that was the best decision by our local supervisors because we are able to move much faster on a local level,” Ortiz said. “We’ve been told we’re one of the fastest-moving programs in the state.”
But the demand for rent relief is so high, Ortiz said, that United Way had to close its application portal after receiving more than 6,500 applications. Households making less than 80 percent of the median income are eligible, but the program will prioritize those at 50 percent or lower.
“We’re churning through the applications that have already been submitted,” Ortiz said. “The funding—it’s not enough to cover all of the individuals.”
California recently allocated another $14 million in rental aid to Santa Barbara County as part of its state-level program, according to Ortiz, and United Way is now helping households navigate that application process. But the concern now is that the money will not get out quickly enough to enough people with June 30 approaching.
“We’re starting to hear the desperation of the tenants and landlords, just knowing that that deadline is looming and there is need for funds,” Ortiz said. “There is hope and an expectation that additional funds will come down, we’re just not sure they’ll arrive in time.”
These concerns are even more profound in SLO County, a jurisdiction that decided not to set up its own local rent relief program, deferring about $17.5 million in aid to the state’s program. In SLO County, nearly all tenants and landlords still await rental assistance.
According to Nichols, of the Five Cities Homeless Coalition, out of the more than 350 applications her organization has assisted with thus far, only 10 had been paid out as of June 14.
“It’s been really slow. And everybody acknowledges this,” Nichols said.
Up until the state recently simplified and streamlined the application, the process of applying for aid often took three hours, a litany of documents, and multiple meetings, Nichols said. Then households waited months for their applications to move through the state system.
“Our job is to enroll people, and there’s another company that has the responsibility of doing case management,” Nichols explained. “I think they were just woefully understaffed.”
Despite the frustrations, Nichols said the state seems to recognize the problems and is fixing them. She expects the process to start moving much more quickly. She also said she’s confident that the Legislature will extend eviction protections past June 30 and will also commit to subsidizing 100 percent of applicants’ back rent.
“I do believe the state understands the problem,” she said. “I think the Legislature is going to make a change.”
Most troubling to Nichols, she said, is the number of households that went into credit card debt to pay their rent over the pandemic. That debt is not currently eligible for relief under the program. But Nichols said those tenants could be eligible for future rental assistance, so she encourages them to apply at housingiskey.com.
“There really should be no reason that a tenant or landlord doesn’t apply for this program,” she said.
If the state does push out the June 30 deadline, it could keep thousands of Californians housed and give the state’s program proper time to dole out resources, advocates say. If it doesn’t, starting July 1 full rent is due, and starting Aug. 1 landlords can take tenants to small claims court for past rent owed.
“It is definitely the feeling among our staff and partners,” Ortiz said, “that unless there are changes in policy, we’ll probably be seeing a good amount of evictions.” Δ
Assistant Editor Peter Johnson can be reached at pjohnson@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Winning Images 2021.
What does the party in charge of all things government in California say to this bureaucratic delay and flawed process?
Or, is this just working dandy, like other “success stories” in California public services like the DMV and the EDD? Does Gavin Newsom say this is another success story?
And they want a full takeover of medical services. The resume of California public services says they are already working beyond their abilities as it is.
To John in GB: I think you are mistaken or purposely spreading misinformation. Perhaps you can clarify. You suggest the California government wants a so-called full takeover, of medical services.
If that were true, that would be big news. I have never heard of it. Do you have anything at all to back up your claim?
I think it’s really important that we not use this website to publish misleading propaganda. Thank you
Well, rightword 2, based on your comment volume and content on New Times I’m not sure you can use the word propaganda with a straight face.
But, you asked. There is too much to google on California’s single payer dreams with Senate bills dating back 10-15 years every so often. Look for Senate bill 8XX and it’s more than one over the years. Once you’ve found at least 3 versions, you get to stop.
But, in 2021 the next version is AB1400. This is the most current version of the Democratic goal.
Spend some time on
https://healthcareforall.org/
and catch up for what you’ve missed with your “news sources”.
II stand by my comment that takeover of the medical system is and has been the goal.
Contrary to the comments and insinuations of John in GB, The single payer healthcare models being seriously considered for California clearly do NOT call for a Government takeover of all hospitals and other medical facilities in the state. On the contrary, they allow for continued private ownership and operation of these facilities. Under these proposals, doctors, nurses and other medical staff currently privately employed would absolutely NOT Become government employees.
It is a shame that plans to expand availability of quality healthcare to people who need it Are being sabotaged by misleading propaganda aimed at preserving a system that the majority of the public and healthcare workers agree is a mess and needs fixing. I think its fair to say that such propaganda is in essence killing lots of people or causing unnecessary suffering for those who would otherwise be saved if we had a single-payer system.
It is worth noting, especially for those for whom it is not obvious, that the United States military, widely considered the greatest in the world, is government run. The same can be said of our fire departments and police departments, sewage treatment departments, highway departments, etc.
There is no denying that some of these organizations could be improved and made more efficient, but the basic template of government organization in the United States has been strong and lasting and accounts, In large part, why the United States is considered one of the greatest nations in the world. Our government, while not perfect, is nevertheless universally counted as one of the greatest in the world. And thats a good thing.
Well rightword 2, I guess you agree with my first points that the rental assistance program is a disaster and shows the state can’t manage something simple. 3 posts to an article and no response to the article itself or my initial comments you didn’t read before you got triggered. Silence is concurrence. Thank you for agreeing with me!
This article or any comment didn’t mention the Military, Baseball, or the Fire Departments. Nice try though.
But dude, or dudette whoever you are: Look up the definition of euphemism. Then imagine your “Single payer” BS along with other of your favorites like”Prevailing Wage”, “Living Wage”, etc. They don’t mean what they think you think they mean. But, you are correct. The initial ideal of single payer is just an eliminate of private insurance. And then, step #2 is always, price fixing, service fixing and a regulatory structure that is in effect a takeover. The permanent state is what we should be discussing, not what happens first.
You’ve got to be totally clueless not to understand where the movement is intending health care to go.
Sorry, I dont feel I have enough information about the rental assistance program to make a pointed and relevant comment about it. But I do know something about the healthcare system and it was a subject that you brought up, Making a point that I think mischaracterizes the reality of the situation. I like the idea of a system where everybody who needs healthcare gets it, bar none. When the billing department is eliminated from a U.S. hospital, overhead drops by 50%. Thats a huge savings right there. In my experience, its primarily people who can afford healthcare who dont want to make that privilege universal and seem insensitive to those who are suffering or dying or in great pain without any practical option to get the care they need. The greatest thing a government can do for its people is to make sure they have quality healthcare. To me thats more important than sending people to outer space, and cameras to Mars.