City will look into allowing landlords to apply for rental assistance on behalf of tenants, but application and documentation requirements still pose challenges to dispursing funds
In order to streamline its emergency rental assistance applications, the City of Long Beach is looking to allow landlords to apply for assistance on behalf of their tenants.
During Tuesday’s Long Beach City Council meeting, staff pointed out that a little more than $18 million of the City’s $64 million in rental assistance funds have been dispersed—approximately 29%.
There are currently 6,000 unfilled applications and 8,500 incomplete applications for Long Beach’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (LB-ERAP).
The State’s eviction moratorium ended on Sept. 30, meaning that those with unpaid rents may face eviction. Those with rental assistance applications will be protected.
“Creating a single, streamlined application process targeted to property owners and buildings with large clusters of incomplete applications would help us to get the money out faster, allow [us] to protect more tenants and reach those hard-to-get tenants,” Vice Mayor Rex Richardson said.
The City doesn’t have the authority to consolidate rental applications. Since the LB-ERAP is funded through state and federal dollars, the City must abide by California’s stringent requirements for dispersing funds.
Instead, the motion will allow City staff to reach out to the State Treasury Department to “see if there’s other mechanisms beyond what the current regulations allow in order to streamline the process,” Deputy Director of Development Services Oscar Orsci said.
According to the item, the Treasury is establishing guidelines for bulk payments to landlords in anticipation of the full satisfaction of application and documentation requirements. The State of California will decide whether to allow such payments.
At its current rate of disbursement, Long Beach will not be able to pay out its full allocation until August of 2022, nearly a year after unspent monies will have to be returned to the Treasury.
Vice Mayor Rex Richardson cited internet access, language barriers and the complexity of gathering required documentation as barriers to completing applications.
Currently, over four in ten Long Beach residents are housing cost-burdened, meaning they pay more than 30% of their income on rent or mortgage payments, according to a recent draft of Long Beach’s 6th Cycle Housing Element.
The strain is more apparent in low-income households, in which the majority are cost-burdened, according to the draft. Households of color are disproportionately impacted.
“While this program has tried to help many households with rental and utility payments, the difficulty of the application process discourages tenants—especially low-income renters and our undocumented communties—from accessing these funds.”
–Grecia Lopez-Reyes, executive director for the Long Beach Coalition for Good Jobs and A Healthy Community
In a rare moment of solidarity, advocates for both property owners and tenants voiced support for the item during public comment.
“While this program has tried to help many households with rental and utility payments, the difficulty of the application process discourages tenants—especially low-income renters and our undocumented communities—from accessing these funds,” said Grecia Lopez-Reyes, executive director for the Long Beach Coalition for Good Jobs and A Healthy Community. “It is confusing, inaccessible and requires an unnecessary amount of documentation.”
The same level of documentation will be required for the applications unless the State makes a variance, though having landlords apply on behalf of tenants may by nature offer an additional level of ease to the application process.
Mike Murchison, representing the Small Property Owners Alliance, agreed with Lopez-Reyes.
“That’s got to be a first for me,” Murchison said. “But I think the two main issues that I want to bring forward is number one, streamlining the permit process. And I think other speakers have brought that up. That’s critical. But the other bigger issue, and I brought this up months ago, is that the federal government has income requirements.”
Councilmember Suzie Price expressed frustration that only those below 80% Area Median Income (AMI)—$72,100 for a two-person household—can qualify for the program.
State and federal governments set those limits. Orsci reiterated the City does not have the authority to change the income requirements.
Koontz said his department would work with residents whose income had dropped below 80% AMI in the past year to qualify them. Qualification for something like low-income food assistance could be used by proxy to prove their need for assistance.
If the City can streamline its process and get more funds out the door, Long Beach could be awarded for its efforts.
The State Treasury has stated, beginning Sept. 30, 2021, it will reallocate funds from low-performing jurisdictions to “high-performing” jurisdictions—those who allocated less than 65% of their rental assistance funds.
If Long Beach can get more money out the door, its rental assistance funds could swell later on.
City staff are expected to report back on options for streamlining the application process at a later date.
The next Long Beach City Council meeting will take place Tuesday, Oct. 12 at 5 p.m. at the Civic Chambers, 411 W Ocean Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90802.
