By Jeanne Kuang | CalMatters
Eviction cases soared across California in the year after the last portion of a statewide moratorium lapsed, a CalMatters analysis of court data shows.
The elevated numbers — in some places beyond pre-pandemic levels — show a significant portion of renters remain at risk of losing their homes, despite the state’s rollout of a $5 billion rent relief program during the pandemic and a yearslong pause on many eviction cases that many landlords have said disrupted their businesses and income.
A nationwide study published this year found increases in eviction filings are associated with slight upticks in the population of homeless people living in shelters.
The statewide moratorium was extended until June 2022 for those who had applied for rental assistance by March, barring evictions in cases where tenants had not paid rent and said they couldn’t because of financial hardship wrought by the pandemic.
The law didn’t stop evictions completely — thousands were still locked out under various exceptions — but it dropped cases to record lows. After it ended, a patchwork of local protections for tenants kicked in for cities that had passed their own eviction limits, which then phased out later in 2022 or earlier this year.
Recently obtained data from when the statewide moratorium was lifted through the summer of 2023 show that in a dozen of the state’s most populous counties, the average monthly eviction filings surpassed pre-pandemic averages.
Counties that extended local moratoria also are seeing waves of landlords seeking to remove tenants, albeit delayed until after their own rules end. That’s led to particularly acute spikes this year in Alameda County and Los Angeles counties.
The post-moratoria spikes could reverse a nearly decade-long trend of evictions falling, both in California and nationwide.
While the overall number of eviction cases filed post-pandemic remains far lower than the peak years following the…
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