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SOLD OUT LIVE: Evictions, Moratoriums and Rent Relief

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KQED's Molly Solomon and Erin Baldassari, hosts of SOLD OUT:Rethinking Housing in America podcast, sit with Anne Tamiko Omura, Executive Director of the Eviction Defense Center, Krista Gulbransen, Executive Director of Berkeley Rental Housing Coalition, and Tim Thomas, Research Director of the Urban Displacement Project at UC Berkeley (left to right), for the podcast's Nov. 13, 2021 conversation about evictions in San Francisco, CA. (Alain McLaughlin/KQED)

The coronavirus pandemic brought millions of people to the edge of losing their housing. When the economy ground to a halt, it became very clear that many people who lost their jobs wouldn’t be able to pay rent, and would face eviction.  

The pandemic also sparked a national conversation about the connection between housing and health. Without a safe place to live, and the ability to shelter-in-place, many people would become more vulnerable to getting sick. 

The response was unprecedented: the federal government announced an eviction moratorium. Many states like California and local governments here in the Bay Area went even further and passed stronger eviction protections. Still some people were left out, and as those protections expire and the effects of the pandemic linger on, many more could face eviction again. 


For a second season of SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America, we’re investigating the system of evictions. Evictions are in no way new; they impact 3 million people a year. And as pandemic-related protections have expired, a growing number of tenants, advocates, and political leaders are questioning the system of evictions and searching for ways to overhaul it and keep people housed. 

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In advance of the new season (coming in February 2022) we held a a live event at KQED’s San Francisco headquarters with Tim Thomas, Research Director of the Urban Displacement Project at UC Berkeley, Anne Tamiko Omura, Executive Director of the  Eviction Defense Center, and Krista Gulbransen, Executive Director of Berkeley Rental Housing Coalition.

We discussed racial disparities in evictions and housing, the recent eviction moratoriums, the struggles to get rent relief to those who need it most, and the intersection of property rights and the human right to housing.


Have a listen to the conversation (or watch the video of the event on KQED’s Youtube above), and follow SOLD OUT wherever you listen to podcasts. The first episode of the new season comes out on February 14, 2022. 

Got a story about housing you want to share with the SOLD OUT team? Email us or send us a voice memo to housing@kqed.org. Or leave us a voicemail at 415-553-3308.

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