SAN DIEGO — Tenants and advocates staged a sit-in protest at the San Diego County Housing and Community Development Services building on Tuesday, calling on county officials to address issues with the defunct COVID rent relief program that left thousands of renters in the region facing eviction.
The county’s emergency rental assistance (ERA) program was part of statewide efforts to relieve the impact of economic hardship during the pandemic. Now, several months after the program ended back in March, tenants are still struggling.
Protesters, including one dressed as a turkey to reference the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, blamed the county and state for not effectively carrying out the ERA program while it was available, as issues like a lack of funding to meet demand, inconsistent communication from caseworkers, and vague denials of eligible applications made relief difficult to access.
“We would like to see everyone who is eligible for this program to get the funding that they need as soon as possible,” said the director of the San Diego chapter for the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Jose Lopez, who organized the event. “We're hoping that they find a way to fully fund the program, in order to make sure that everybody who is supposed to get help gets the help that they need.”
ACCE said this sit-in at the Housing and Community Development Services building was part of a joint effort with other actions in Los Angeles and Sacramento calling on government officials to address issues relating to the program’s administration, as many tenants were left hanging.
“There’s no options for me,” said Lydia Morales, a member of ACCE and a speaker at Tuesday’s event.
Morales, a single mom of three who lives in San Ysidro, owes about $6,000 in rent that was approved through the City of San Diego’s ERA program. A server for a hotel, she turned to rent relief after the pandemic stifled her source of income due to early shut-downs — something that the hospitality industry still has not fully recovered from.
“I have to ask for money everywhere — family, friends — and I still (can’t) recover,” she continued. “I still (can’t) pay even half of the money that I owe.”
Tenants across the county have voiced similar struggles in the months since the ERA program ended.
Last month, inewsource reported that the county continued to accept and approve applications for assistance that they did not yet have funding for. These applicants were only notified in September that the relief they thought they’d be receiving would not be paid, leaving them scrambling to avoid eviction.
“Thousands of people applied for assistance, but were never given any help,” said another member of ACCE, Barbara Pinto. Pinto, a lifelong San Diego resident, applied for rental assistance after losing her part time job during the pandemic — something she needed to make ends meet after retiring from San Diego Unified School District in 2012.
“I'm thinking, I don't have $25 to walk across the street and buy food,” she continued. “How am I gonna pay five months' arrear rent at $1,550 a month?”
San Diego County received about $243 million in funds from the state and federal government for its ERA program, according to county spokesperson Tim McCain. These funds were prioritized for low-income households significantly impacted by the pandemic.
County officials said in emails with tenants and inewsource that they are still actively looking for funding to cover approved applications, however, it is not clear whether any will become available.
“The County understands the message shared yesterday by ACCE and stands ready to fund more applications should additional state or federal funds become available,” McCain said in an email to inewsource Wednesday.
To read the full story from inewsource, click here.
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