January 12, 2021 – Bill 15 – Bill 16

California State Assembly
Committee on Housing and Community Development
Honorable David Chiu, Chair
Honorable Kelly Seyarto, Vice Chair
Honorable Jesse Gabriel
Honorable Ash Kalra
Honorable Kevin Kiley
Honorable Brian Maienschein
Honorable Sharon Quirk-Silva
Honorable Buffy Wicks

Legislative Office Building
1020 N Street, Room 156
Sacramento, CA 95814

Re: Catholic Charities Supports AB-15 Tenant Stabilization Act of 2021 and AB-16 Tenant, Small Landlord, and Affordable Housing Provider Stabilization Act of 2021.

Dear Assembly Housing Committee Members Chiu, Seyarto, Gabriel, Kalra, Kiley, Maienschein, Quirk-Silva, and Wicks:

Catholic Charities supports AB-15 and AB-16 that strive to protect both California tenants from eviction and small landlords from financial ruin as the pandemic continues to surge across our state and the nation.

We are facing a humanitarian crisis. Tens of thousands of the State’s renters who cannot pay at least 25% of rent owed between September and January face eviction on February 1, 2021, when tenant protections enacted under AB 3088 expire. Families, seniors, and chronically ill California residents may become homeless.

Every day, we witness and respond to the urgent needs of desperate families and individuals in San Francisco, Marin, and San Mateo Counties due to COVID-19 job loss and severe financial hardship.  Since the beginning of the pandemic, Catholic Charities has received more than 10,000 rental assistance applications. Phone lines and emails continue to be flooded with desperate requests for help. This dire need locally is reflected nationwide as an astonishing 7.9 million tenants revealed in a U.S. Census Bureau survey that they had “little or no confidence” in their ability to pay next month’s rent.

At a time when California and our nation face the darkest moments in the lives of our most vulnerable populations, Catholic Charities wholeheartedly supports:

AB-15 is a temporary measure to ensure seamless protection for vulnerable California tenants by extending their protection from eviction effective Feb. 1, 2021 through Dec. 31, 2021, while giving the Legislature and the Governor more time to enact inclusive, long-term solutions to the housing crisis.

AB-16 to stabilize tenants, small landlords, and affordable housing providers through public funding wedded to public policy in order to ensure an equitable recovery for all, including people and communities of color that have suffered the most during the pandemic.

Sincerely,

Jilma Meneses
Chief Executive Officer

Jerilyn Gelt
Board Chair, Public Interest Committee

Catholic Charities
San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin Counties