Many tenants do not have to pay the rent for their home. (Aurelia Ventura / La Opinion)
Photo:
Aurelia Ventura / Impremedia / La Opinion
The City of Los Angeles will launch a $ 103 million emergency program to help tenants who face economic difficulties due to coronavirus, to pay the rent of your home.
According to the office of the president of the Council, Nury Martínez, it is a matter of weeks for the program to start working and to accept applications. Details of how the funds will be requested and delivered have not yet been disclosed. But it is anticipated that it will be requested by phone or via on-line.
President Martinez introduced legislation to mobilize $ 100 million from the City's Federal Economic Recovery Package (CARES act) fund to create the emergency program to help tenants.
Those 100 million dollars are added to the three million given by the councilmen through discretionary funds of the Angelino Council.
"People are desperate and suffering for our entire City, and housing is their greatest burden," said Nury.
"I am particularly concerned about Angelenos who are on the brink of homelessness, our poor people, and those who did not get any relief checks from the federal government."
Therefore, he pointed out that beyond the 103 million dollars, Much more federal housing help is needed if we want to keep Angelenos in their homes when the pandemic ends.
"We will continue to ask for more assistance at the state and federal levels, but these funds certainly represent a hopeful starting point."
As a background, last winter the Council leader first created a relief program to help with rent to a group of tenants during a speculative period months before the AB 1482 law came into force, limiting the rent increase up to 8% per year in California.
During the pandemic, it also helped pass a moratorium, considered the most robust in the nation, to stop housing evictions for those unable to pay rent due to lack of income.
Councilman Herb Wesson said this money will help some families get a little better sleep, and keep their roof on the line.
"When we have about 39 million unemployed Americans and only 45% of Angelenos have jobs, we need more from the federal government"
He added that monthly payments from the federal government are needed to deal with the economic crisis caused by COVID-19, not just a one-time stimulus check.
"We need to rescue Main Street, not Wall Street. The federal government is the only one that has the resources to face these challenges. ”
The president of the Los Angeles Council proposed this emergency program for tenants because the coronavirus pandemic left thousands of Angelenos unemployed who now cannot pay the rent for their home. The unemployment rate in the county rose to 20%.
Councilman Mitch O'Farrell said that by protecting tenants, we ensure that rental properties are not foreclosed, and giving stability to the commercial and housing rental market has been one of his priorities since the virus began and orders of the emergency by COVID-10 came into effect
"I will work to ensure that these grants benefit people in greatest need, and I will continue to advocate for additional resources to keep Los Angeles on the path to full recovery."
To qualify, tenants who cannot pay the rent will have to demonstrate that they earn less than 80% of the area's median income, and that they are experiencing financial problems due to the coronavirus. Once approved, the funds will go directly to the landlord for a period of two months. There is a proposal to give $ 1,350 per months. It is estimated that they could benefit 74,074 homes in Los Angeles.
A UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation report estimated that nearly one million households in the Los Angeles metropolitan area experience job and job loss.
UCLA research found that tenants in neighborhoods like MacArthur Park, Pico-Union, and Harvard Heights are among the most vulnerable in the county, and at risk of having to pay past-due rent due to COVID-19.
