SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — There is new help for people still on the verge of losing their homes because of the pandemic.
Housing Help SD is a new collection of organizations helping point people to legal help and even money to cover rent. It's already become useful for people like Luis Castro.
"The first couple of nights, I couldn't sleep after we got the eviction notice," Castro said about his Chula Vista apartment complex. "The previous owner passed away and they sold the building to a new company, which two weeks after purchasing the building, they're kicking everybody out."
Experts say the so-called "eviction tsunami" is still coming, and the current amount of evictions is still holding steady, at higher numbers than they first thought.
Joanne Franciscus, a managing attorney at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego said it's been a confusing time for tenants, and landlords, at a time when 24% of renters in the county are at risk of eviction, according to data from the society.
Housing Help SD's goal is to help out.
"It's a coordinated response network made up of other nonprofits, other nonprofit organizations that all provide some form of housing-related services," Franciscus said.
Several protections at local, state, and federal levels are available to people, like Governor Gavin Newsom's $5.2 billion rent relief program. However, eligibility requirements, dates of effectiveness, and other factors vary.
"Nobody should be being evicted for non-payment of rent when there's money on the table to make the landlord whole, particularly during a pandemic," Franciscus added.
It's no secret evictions have historically hit communities of color. Franciscus said they're hitting communities with low vaccine rates too-- making the evictions a more urgent issue.
For Castro in the South Bay, the "collective" pointed him to legal information, which he and some neighbors said they plan to use to fight the evictions
"They're teaching us what to do and what not to do," Castro said. "They're teaching us about our protections and our rights as tenants."
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