Additional funds will be injected into California’s rental housing assistance program

A Biden Administration disperses more money to recoup COVID-related rent debt.

We were already exuberant about SB 91 and the prospect of cash-strapped landlords recovering 80 cents on the dollar. Now, President Biden and lawmakers in Washington have sweetened the pot with the latest stimulus package, dubbed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

The massive relief bill will earmark an additional $2.2 billion in emergency rental assistance for Californians. That is on top of the $2.6 billion designated in the last pandemic relief package. 

As of the date of this writing, the infrastructure has not been put into place to apply for the assistance, but we expect there will be clarity by March 15, if not sooner. We urge our community to stay abreast of the news and be first in line to tap into this huge pool of funds. 

We caution that not all landlords will not qualify for the rental assistance and that successful applicants will need to glean certain information from a cooperative tenant, so now is the time to broach the conversation of a win-win with the tenant and educate renters on the rental assistance program if you haven’t done so. Bornstein Law can certainly facilitate in that dialogue. 

There are many nuances with SB 91 and we discuss them here.