Evictions may exceed 5,000 on an annual basis in the near-term in Alameda County following the end of the county’s eviction moratorium April 29, according to the Alameda County Community Development Agency.
That would match the rate in Contra Costa County and Santa Clara County following the end of their moratoriums.
Shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, evictions were as high as 4,000 annually in Alameda County. Evictions were below 500 in the 2020-21 fiscal year, the lowest in at least the past four years.
“We believe evictions will spike,” said Michelle Starratt, director of the county’s Housing and Community Development Department. “We will see a huge amount of displacement.”
The result will be an increase in homelessness, county staff said in a report last month provided to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.
Three alternatives
Staff in the report made three recommendations to the county’s top leaders that can be implemented now.
One, supervisors can continue to provide funding for the Alameda County Housing Secure program, which provides legal services to prevent displacement of residents.
Two, supervisors can create a program to prevent foreclosures on some rental housing providers who are facing hardship because their tenants haven’t paid rent.
Alameda County’s eviction moratorium lasted 37 months while federal resources were available for only 15 months.
An estimated $120 million is what Alameda County tenants currently owe, according to the county.
Supervisors could develop additional programs to help housing providers and tenants. County staff suggested possibly providing a resource center with staff to assist small rental housing providers in small claims court.
A survey by the Housing and Community Development Department showed that the average amount owed to rental housing providers is $20,000.
County staff identified two sources of funding to make 150 payments of $20,000 each to housing providers — $1 million could come from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, while $2 million could come from boomerang funding, which in 2020 was money for housing and homelessness following the end of redevelopment agencies in California.
Third, the county could use money from the American Rescue Plan Act to provide monetary support to at-risk community members such as newcomers, refugees and asylum seekers. They may be in need because they have low income, the moratorium is expiring and COVID-19 and health care funding is drying up.
That will “conflate to create a crisis,” county staff wrote in the report.
Supervisors could develop additional programs to help housing providers and tenants. County staff suggested possibly providing a resource center with staff to assist small rental housing providers in small claims court.
The county’s top leaders could also create a mediation program for tenants and provide funding for tenants who have unpaid rent from March 31, 2022, to the end of the eviction moratorium. Federal emergency rental assistance ended March 31 of last year.