A Message from BOMA International RE: Federal COVID-19 Tenant Relief Programs

California Colleagues,

Over the last few weeks I have  had the opportunity  to present to several of the California Associations information on The American Rescue Plan and The American Jobs Plan. Several individuals requested additional information on tenant rent relief programs as  many managers and owners are grappling with unpaid rents. The main problem is that all of the assistance programs are aimed at tenants.  Landlords cannot directly participate in these programs.  We thought that we could help by providing information that you can pass-on  to tenants on how to participate in the rental assistant programs. To that end,  I have attached an information sheet for California. It breaks out the funding and programs available and provides  links and emails to the federal programs and the local offices. I think the best use is to get it into the hands of the tenants and encourage them to engage the local offices (listed) – they will get a better response from the local office rather than calling Washington, DC. There are no programs for rental assistance that recognize landlords so it must be the tenants that apply.

One additional issue that we are looking at closely is the move to prevent evictions and forgive rents. From our perspective, this amounts to a government taking of private property. The law is pretty clear on this which is to say that they may be able to pass such laws. However, a taking requires the government to  compensate at fair value for any taking. If they do move forward I am sure it will end up on court  – but the stays and injunctions will complicate the entire matter and potentially prevent evictions for longer periods of time. In a few words – they are creating a mess. I want to reassure all of our BOMA colleagues that we are following this closely at the federal level and will keep you up to date as concerns arise. As always, please reach out to us if we can be of assistance.

Best,

Don Davis, Esq.
Vice President, Advocacy and Codes
BOMA International