September Policy Update

Eviction Moratorium

The Supreme Court ruled on August 26th to end the temporary stay on the federal eviction moratorium issued by the CDC in early August. The Center for Disease Control called for the federal eviction moratorium to stay in place until October 3, 2021. Certain states have their own eviction bans in place, including California. The statewide eviction moratorium is in place until September 30th. San Diego County had its own eviction moratorium in place that was stricter than both state and federal eviction bans which expired on August 15th. State and local governments are working to provide residents who have been financially affected by COVID-19 with emergency rental assistance. The city of San Diego’s rent relief program has given out over $77.9 million in aid to over 9,400 households and still has about $85 million in aid left to give. For more information on rental assistance, check out this link for the city of San Diego and this link for the County.

County Board of Supervisors Meeting on 8/31/2021

Last week the County Board of Supervisors approved two items that SDHF believes will positively impact housing policy in the county. The first item titled “Advancing Immediate and Long-Term Housing Priorities Through the Innovative Housing Trust Fund [Funding Source: General Fund]” was brought forth by Supervisor Lawson-Remer and Supervisor Anderson. This would place $20 million into the Innovative Housing Trust Fund (IHTF) and would amend the funds NOFA criteria and place an additional $5 million towards affordable housing policy research, development, implementation and evaluation of affordable housing pilot program that advance equity, sustainability, and affordability. The second item was brought forth by Vice-chair Vargas and Supervisor Lawson-Remer titled “Transformative Housing Solutions that Advance Equity, Sustainability, and Affordability for All [Funding Source: Unassigned General Fund Balance]”. This would allow the board to research and evaluate the options for increasing “equitable housing” such as very low-income, low-income, and moderate-income housing by working with stakeholders in the community. SDHF provided a comment letter in support of both items along with recommendations to strengthen the proposals. Both passed unanimously.