California Lawmakers Reach Deal To Extend Eviction Moratorium And Pay Back Rent For Some Tenants

California lawmakers reached a deal with Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday to extend the state's eviction moratorium until the end of September.

The agreement would also extend the state's program to pay overdue rent for lower-income Californians who've taken a financial hit because of the pandemic.

Newsom said this morning that 90,000 people have already applied to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, but he also acknowledged that the process of getting that money out has been slow. He also said the application process had been streamlined, and more support services had been added to help tenants.

"It's still laborious, but we are working hard to do that," the governor said. "We expect with this announcement and deal we're going to see more people applying and more money requested. Our job is to efficiently — and make sure appropriately, because we don't want fraud in this space — to get those dollars out as quickly as possible."

California banned evictions after Newsom imposed the nation's first statewide coronavirus shutdown last March.

Those protections were scheduled to expire on Wednesday, and the extension could get approved by the state Legislature as early as Monday.

Go deeper: California’s eviction moratorium extension: What’s in it for tenants? (CALMatters)