Bakersfield allocates $5 million for COVID-19 rental assistance

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — With many out of work and struggling to pay rent and mortgages -- the City of Bakersfield is creating a program designed to prevent a collapse of the local housing market.

On Wednesday, the Bakersfield City Council voted to use $5 million to subsidize rent for people financially affected by COVID-19.

The money is coming from the state allocation of the federal CARES Act.

"You know the pandemic has really just exacerbated a situation that was already really difficult in the first place," Stephen Pelz, Executive Director of the Housing Authority of the County of Kern said.

That situation is Bakersfield's rental market.

Demand and prices are high and supply is strained.

Add in the fact right now many aren't paying their bills.

"And that's impacted both renters, homeowners. It's also impacting landlords," Pelz said.

When the coronavirus pandemic began, Governor Newsom put a moratorium on evictions.

Meaning even if people didn't pay rent, landlords couldn't kick them out.

The problem is the renters still owed the rent and landlords owed the bank.

So in some cases, both are accruing piles of debt with no way to pay.

Seeing a need, the city council authorized a rental assistance program.

The goals are to prevent families from becoming homeless and to prevent landlords from getting foreclosed.

"A lot of these landlords are just mom-and-pop," Ronda Newport, President of the Bakersfield Association of Realtors said.

According to both Newport and Pelz, a large percentage of rental properties in Bakersfield are mortgaged.

So when rent is not paid, neither is the debt.

According to the housing authority, which will administer the program, the goal is to help at least 1,000 households in this situation due to COVID-19.

Newport hopes this will have a ripple effect.

Not only helping the families who live in those homes -- but also the families who own them.

"It will give some sort of relief to those landlords who've had to go months without being able to pay their mortgage."

The city is still ironing out the details of the program but plans to have a full proposal in place by the September city council meeting.