California Has a Plan to Pay the Back Rent for Low-Income Tenants. All of It.

The state is poised to embark on an ambitious, complex effort to cover the unpaid rent of low-income renters who struggled during the pandemic.

SAN FRANCISCO — Swimming in cash from an unexpected budget surplus and federal stimulus money, California is planning rent forgiveness on a scale never seen before in the United States. A $5.2 billion program in final negotiations at the State Legislature would pay 100 percent of unpaid rent that lower-income Californians incurred during the pandemic and would be financed entirely by federal money. The state is also proposing to set aside $2 billion to pay for unpaid water and electricity bills. When California became the first state to shut down its economy last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom predicted dire shortfalls in the state’s budget. But a year later, the state finds itself with so much money that it is poised to not only cover 100 percent of unpaid rent for low-income tenants, but also to give an additional $12 billion back to taxpayers, by sending state stimulus checks of at least $600 to millions of middle-class Californians.