The CDC this week extended the eviction moratorium until the end of June, but what comes next?
California was already facing a housing and homelessness crisis before the pandemic hit last year.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s State of the State address in 2020 was devoted to homelessness, but weeks later COVID-19 was the only thing on peoples’ minds.
“A lot of our bills were held,” said California Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, who represents the 15th district. “I do a lot of work on housing. A lot of our production bills were held.”
State leaders had to focus on keeping tenants in their apartments and rental units in the midst of economic turmoil caused by a health crisis.
Now, as vaccines are put into arms, travel restrictions are lifted and people look forward to enjoying past activities once again, Wicks said on KCBS Radio's "The State of California" that lawmakers will have to go back to that same set of issues.
“It’s not like rents have gone down in San Francisco, and it’s so affordable to live in the Bay Area now because of COVID-19,” the assemblywoman said. “That is absolutely not the case.”
She said California is still 3.5 million homes shy of what it needs, and rent prices are only starting to go back up after their temporary decline.
“We have to go ahead and build more housing,” Wicks said. “We have to confront exclusionary zoning.”
Currently, Wicks said the focus needs to remain on vaccinations.
“We have to get shots in arms,” she said.
Related
