Newsom, Lawmakers Agree to Extend Eviction Moratorium, Provide $5B in Rent Relief

Gov. Gavin Newsom and California lawmakers agreed Friday to extend the state's eviction moratorium until Sept. 30 and increase funding relief to tenants and landlords.

Assembly Bill 832 extends the current moratorium for two more months and will ensure the state quickly uses the more than $5 billion in federal rental assistance to help tenants and small landlords and protect vulnerable households from eviction, according to a news release Friday.

Newsom said tenants impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic would have 100% of their back rent covered under the bill.

"California is coming roaring back from the pandemic, but the economic impacts of COVID-19 continue to disproportionately impact so many low-income Californians, tenants and small landlords alike," Newsom said in a statement. "That’s why I am thankful for today’s news from the Legislature – protecting low-income tenants with a longer eviction moratorium and paying down their back-rent and utility bills – all thanks to the nation’s largest and most comprehensive rental assistance package, which I am eager to sign into law as soon as I receive it."

Newsom, meanwhile, was in the South Bay to provide an update on his Project Homekey program tackling homelessness in California. He spoke at a news conference held at a Homekey site in Mountain View called LifeMoves Mountain View.

Homekey is a $600 million program that provides grant funding to cities, counties and other local public entities to buy rehabilitated housing such as hotels, motels and vacated apartment buildings to convert into permanent, long-term housing for those living on the street.

Newsom, a Democrat who is facing a recall election, has called Project Homekey a nation-leading program and the largest expansion of housing for people experiencing homelessness in recent history.