A federal freeze on housing evictions is set to expire on Saturday, but California renters will have a little extra time.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law last month that will extend eviction protections through September. The law also sees California paying back rent for eligible tenets, but Sonoma State University Economist Robert Eyler warned that the state does not yet know the scale of the problem.
"One of the things that we don’t know yet is how rent relief programs will be taken advantage of and how much debt people really have," he told KCBS Radio. "There have been some estimates that are out there that sound a little scary on the surface."
He said many landlords are trying to work with renters on the short-term to avoid a mass-exodus of evictions.
"On the one hand you don’t necessarily want to give people low or free rent because they’re not paying it, and at the same time, if they are prospectively going to pay it you don’t want to evict them and have an unknown market on the other side," Eyler said, explaining the dilemma landlords now face.
With the federal freeze on evictions expiring, many protections will now be relayed down to the state level.
"That disconnect between the federal and the state may lead to a bunch of lawsuits," said Eyler. "It’ll be intriguing to see if they (these lawsuits) are restrictions versus financial relief."
With COVID-19 cases rising, it’s possible California may see eviction protections return in the fall.