Mayor Eric Garcetti and Los Angeles City Councilmembers announced  a $259 million COVID-19 Emergency Renters Relief Program that will become available March 30.

The rent relief program was passed unanimously by the city council and up to $10,000 in grants will be distributed to roughly 64,000 families in Los Angeles.

“It’s not just about paying a month of rent or two forward, it’s about erasing that debt that is stressing out families today,” Garcetti said. “I urge landlords to say ‘yes,’ because if they don’t say yes to this, tenants will get direct relief at 25%, which means that they can’t be evicted.”

While $235 million of the aid will go toward rent assistance, $3 million will be used for L.A.’s eviction defense program.

The relief plan is receiving funding from the American Rescue Plan, as well as state funding and will go toward rent owed between April 1, 2020  up to March 31, 2021.

“President Biden’s $1.3 trillion economic package shows the federal government actually realizes that this is a framework to be able to lift families up from poverty,” L.A. City Council President Nury Martinez said Tuesday. “It shows that the city of Los Angeles knew all along that these were the types of programs that working families need to make it through this pandemic.”

The first rent relief plan in 2020 used $103 million in grants from the CARES Act to help 49,133 households in Los Angeles. Further funds were used to aid Los Angeles in 2020 with $50 million in utility assistance and $75 million from the Angeleno Card Program.

 

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