Time is up: California eviction moratorium lifted

While California's eviction moratorium lifted as of Friday, Riverside County is still offering rental assistance to help prevent people from being put out of their homes.

With the moratorium ending, according to Cal Matters, about 724,000 California households are still $2.5 billion behind in rent.

This moratorium began during the pandemic to help those who lost their job, or was impacted by the pandemic, be able to stay in their homes.

Those who haven't paid at least 25% of rental debt that was accumulated between April 2020-September 2021, or October's rent in full are in danger of being evicted.

However, before this eviction can actually happen, landlords are being required to apply for rental assistance on behalf of their tenants before.

There is also plenty of help being offered for those who are being affected.

Riverside County approved $57,267,219 in emergency rental & utility assistance program funding from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Already the county is reporting to have helped at least 12,500 households.

“We’re seeing roughly 600 applications for assistance coming in every week throughout the county." claims Mike Walsh, Riverside County housing workforce solutions department deputy director. "But we’re putting out more than 2.5 million dollars every week to landlords throughout riverside county and also utility companies to help them catch up with their rental assistance.”

United Lift has also been a great resource to Riverside County by helping residents fill our the necessary paperwork to gain access to these funds.

United Lift said those who qualify are covered for three months of future rent payments for eligible Riverside County renters, plus up to a year of past due rent and utilities.

To get started on the application, you need government issued identification, prove you're a renter in Riverside County, documented COVID-19 related financial impact, proof of the household's income in 2020, and utility bills if requesting aid with this also. You can find which specific documents are accepted on the website.

With the moratorium lifting, the non-profit expects to see more people requesting help.

“It’s really important that folks recognize these resources were made available for folks specifically for the reason that it’s important to keep our community housed.” said Heather Vaikona, Lift to Rise's CEO.

You can call 442-334-7923 to reach someone from United Lift and ask questions about starting an application.