LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The Los Angeles City Council today voted unanimously to take steps toward creating a Renters Relief Registry, which would include a ranking system to prioritize certain renters to receive relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has increased this pipeline of housing vulnerability. The city must prepare now to be able to quickly assist residents with the fallout when the eviction moratorium ends, to ensure that highest-risk residents are helped quickly and cost effectively,'' the motion, which was introduced by Councilmen Kevin de Leon and Mike Bonin, stated.
“Instead of a randomized lottery system created after new funds are found, the city must develop a permanent, transparent and equitable registry program which prioritizes all future funds to residents based on criteria directly correlated to the pandemic and institutional poverty such as communities which rank highest on scales such as the Urban Institute's Emergency Rental Assistance Priority Index, status as essential workers and households with children living below the poverty line to ensure distribution of funds is always directed first to the most vulnerable among us,'' the motion continued.
Council members specifically instructed the Housing and Community Investment Department to report back to the City Council on the creation of the registry, including the development of a ranking system. It also instructed HCIDLA to publicly share aggregate data from the registry once per quarter and include the data in its annual report to provide better information on the housing crisis to policy makers, researchers and residents.
HCIDLA will also report on the necessary funding and staffing to maintain the registry and any grants or programs that could be used to start the program.
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