Is Craig Newmark Facing An Eviction Tsunami?

Eureka CA

Description

Quoting the Lost Coast Outhouse, quoting the California Divide, 'a collaboration among newsrooms', although how one can consider The Lost Coast Outhouse as a newsroom, is beyond me, as it's more like a censorship outpost, with comments relentlessly squelched by technology: California’s eviction moratorium is coming to an end June 30. Since the earliest days of the pandemic, housing analysts have worried about a tsunami of evictions whenever the state lifts protections for renters. Will there be an eviction tsunami when the moratorium ends? Or a smaller wave? CalMatters asked Carolina Reid, associate professor of city and regional planning at the University of California, Berkeley. The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length. A few months back, we discussed a potential eviction cliff. Are we still headed for that cliff? Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent announcement that California would cover 100% of rent owed by tenants is welcome news, and will help to mitigate the worst impacts of the pandemic on rental households. Depending on the timing of those payments, the ending of the eviction moratoria on June 30 may be less of a cliff than many believed. But it is unclear whether a) the relief will get to all households that need it soon enough and b) the funds are sufficient to pay back owed rent. There’s also the question of how long it will take to see jobs and wages back in full, and whether households took on other forms of unsustainable debt — for example, through credit cards or other higher cost products like payday loans — to make ends meet during the pandemic. How many people are at risk in the eviction tsunami? How much will they owe? Analysis by PolicyLink suggests that about 900,000 households in California are behind on rent, with an average of $4,600 in rental arrears. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s estimates of rental debt are higher – they estimate that nationally, the average amount of rental arrears (for those who are not paid up on their rent) is closer to $8,000. In a new study we’re about to release next week, we look at the actual rental debt for households living in subsidized housing — so those who benefit from below-market rents. And even there, a small proportion of those who are behind on rental payments have accumulated more than $5,000 in rental debt. So I think these other estimates are reasonable averages, though of course some families may owe much more. Our study also shows that families are also struggling with food costs, and may be struggling to pay rent because they’re also assisting family who may have more need. Even though things are starting to open back up, I think a lot of families are still really reeling from both the economic and emotional impact of this crisis. The Census Pulse Survey results have been quite consistent over time – there’s been some improvement in recent waves, and there is some volatility around the estimates because of small sample size, but in general, about 12% to 15% percent of renters in California report being behind on rent, and just over a third think they are very or somewhat likely to be evicted in the next two months. What do we know about the demographics of the people at risk of eviction? The risks of eviction, and homelessness, are significantly higher for Black, Hispanic, and indigenous households – across every measure and in every dataset, we see higher rates of vulnerability to eviction, including income losses and higher rates of rental delinquencies. In our new study, we also see the dramatic impact of this crisis on households with children, particularly single-parent households. More than three times as many single-parent households with children were behind on rent in comparison to households without children. This is deeply concerning, since we know that the impacts of housing instability, insecurity and homelessness have a significant negative impact on children’s health, educational outcomes and well-being. What are the risks for families beyond the actual eviction process? What are some of the impacts of eviction? Recent studies on eviction show how disruptive it is, not only in the short term in terms of loss of housing and housing instability, but also over the long term. It greatly increases the likelihood of homelessness, but it can also lead to a cycle of housing insecurity and instability. It also increases negative health outcomes and increases health care costs. It lowers credit scores, so it can serve as a barrier to finding new housing or employment, and can raise the costs of borrowing for a car. I just want to take this moment to point out that when my contract was terminated in the Bay Area, and the owner of 2011 Shamrock, in Fortuna, evicted I, my wife, and my four daughters - repeat Humboldt County Spelling Bee champions, members of the Fortuna Marching Band, and straight A students, all - we didn't hear anybody objecting. When we were forced to move into a bedbug-infested, mold-infested apartment at 137 12th Street - an apartment that, based on information and belief, the manager, living directly above, had connected to his own water supply and used, for growing marijuana, creating the mold problem which we inherited - and then PPM evicted us for withholding our rent... I didn't hear anybody objecting. When Humboldt County Child Welfare Services tried to kidnap my children because I was unemployed and the county was unwilling to hire an experienced UNIX systems and network engineer with thirty years of experience, to do ANYTHING COMPUTER RELATED AT ALL, because they preferred to hire their own children... I didn't hear anyone objecting. We can go back even further. It's not just Humboldt County. When I was in San Francisco, in 2000, during the First Dot-Com Collapse, I remember seeing entire houses full of programmers being evicted, dumpsters full of peoples' possessions, people living in each others' closets while hoping that things would change and they wouldn't be forced to return to wherever they had come from, a few years before. The same thing was happening all over the Bay Area. Property owners who had made enormous fortunes renting marked-up housing to programmers and web designers and electronics engineers who built the New Economy, took their fortunes, kicked out the people who had done the hard work, and never looked back. It was ruthless. Owners are ruthless. One has to be amoral to participate in the rentier economy. Amorality is not good for society. It destroys the union between citizens. One doesn't need to be a sociologist to see this. Any five-year-old can explain it. Truly, "Foxes have dens and birds have nests", but we have no place to lay our own heads - and this is carefully crafted policy, intended to drive us away from the very marketplace these assholes claim to worship. Whatever happens next, it's not like this county - this entire state - doesn't deserve a thorough horsewhipping from the Fates, for what you did to my children, my wife, my family, and me, and everyone else like me. What would Jesus do? I say, He would treat you like the money-grubbers that you are and chase you from His Father's temple. Deal with it. Go live at Swimmers Delight, in a tent, for a few weeks or months, while you save up enough money to leave Humboldt County, or enough money to rent one of those granite counter top apartments they are building, for "low income people" - yeah, right - in Fortuna. Bring your kids to Swimmers' Delight, too. Live in a tent. Cook over a stove. Let me know how it feels. Hope your car doesn't have problems - it's a hell of a long walk. Good luck hitching a ride from the 'locals'. Hope you get your living situation straightened out by the end of summer. It gets cold, outside. HCSO finds homeless people who froze to death, sleeping outside, every winter. Hope you're not one of them. If you are facing homelessness, my best advice is to buy yourself a military surplus, three-layer sleeping bag - the third layer is a Kevlar envelope so you can sleep in the rain and not get wet. And one for each member of your family. They go for about $60 apiece. At least you'll be warm, and dry. Buy it now, while you still have a mailing address to receive things at. Meanwhile, in snazzy Fortuna, we have a dog park, but no campsites. Why is that? I predict gunfights and arson, statewide. Food for thought.