California, Oregon, Hawaii and Washington State Lawmakers Urge Congress to Provide $100 Billion in Rent Relief

State lawmakers from the Bay Area joined their fellow legislators from Oregon, Hawaii and Washington to urge Congress to provide $100 billion in immediate national rent relief in light of the pandemic.

That's the amount Democrats argued for in the House-passed Heroes Act stimulus package, while Senate Republicans critique that proposal as spending too much — and the two sides remain deadlocked.

The letter sent to Congress Monday was signed by six senators and representatives who chair committees on housing in their respective states, including the Bay Area's own state Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblymember David Chiu, both representing San Francisco.

Pandemic-related joblessness has rocked Western states, and more than 11 million people across the West may be unable to pay their rent this winter, the housing-focused lawmakers wrote.

"Immediate action is needed to prevent a massive eviction crisis that could impede our ability to curb the transmission of COVID-19," they wrote.

"Having a group of states ban together, and having housing leaders in those legislatures come together to say, 'Please help us,' I think is very powerful," Wiener told KQED.

Nationally, renters are facing the looming expiration of federal eviction protections. California has its own set of eviction protections for those facing financial hardship from the pandemic, however, that last until the end of January.

Extending those protections is crucial to helping tenants, Chiu said, but "the ultimate solution here is to give people money so they can pay their rent."

Chiu added, "If we don't figure this out, we will not only see a massive wave of evictions, but we'll see a skyrocketing wave of homelessness."

Those tenant protections were widely criticized this year for not going far enough and not providing mortgage help for homeowners or landlords.

— Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez (@FitztheReporter)