An estimated 2 million California households are struggling to make rent payments.
Under a new proposal from tenant-friendly Democrats in the state legislature, the state’s current eviction moratorium would continue through Dec. 31 of next year.
Renters hurt by the pandemic would have until then to come up with a quarter of the rent they owe, to avoid being kicked out in 2022.
Assemblyman David Chiu, a Democrat from San Francisco, says allowing the moratorium to expire would be a public health disaster.
"The possibility that tens of thousands of folks could be forced from their homes would make COVID much more likely to spread, have devastating health consequences," he said. "We can’t allow that to be California’s fate.”
The proposal is just the opening salvo in negotiations. While landlord groups are open to extending the moratorium some amount of time, they say they can’t afford a full year of missed payments.
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