July 10, 2020

When you sign up for our email list (below right), you will receive updates about new Atlas content, events, and examples of equity data in action.

Dear Bay Area Equity Atlas Users,

In the Bay Area, the coronavirus and its economic fallout have disproportionately impacted those who were already struggling with economic and housing insecurity: Black, Latinx, and immigrant communities (especially undocumented workers), and low-wage workers. And soon, these same groups are about to face an additional threat: the risk of being evicted when they can’t pay rent due to job and income loss in the pandemic.

Our new analysis, produced in partnership with the Raise the Roof Coalition, sheds light on the magnitude of this risk in Contra Costa County – already one of the region’s hardest hit in terms of rising infections and record-high unemployment – if the eviction moratorium is allowed to expire as scheduled on July 15.

NEW FACTSHEET: Contra Costa County Eviction Risk

We estimate that 12,000 Contra Costa County households – including 10,400 children – are at imminent risk of eviction and homelessness if the moratorium is lifted because they include one or more workers who’ve lost their jobs and have no replacement income. We also find that an additional 9,500 households could be at risk of eviction once the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program ends on July 31.

Such a tsunami of evictions would be devastating for families and the broader community. And while our analysis is specific to Contra Costa County, the challenge is widespread across the region. It is also preventable, and all county and city leaders must take every possible step to keep people in their homes including extending eviction moratoria until after the state of emergency is over, increasing rental assistance and legal representation, and passing strong just cause and rent control laws.

Read the analysis and download the fact sheet.