Water is a human right and the foundation of good health and thriving communities. For the 30th annual observance of World Water Day, we developed this message guidance through conversations during the Caucus's February 2023 national call and the Climate Justice Working Group. Please use this messaging to uplift WECR perspectives and a shared voice for the human right to water.

Everyone should have safe and affordable water. Yet, across the United States, communities face mounting threats to their water security due to contamination, flooding, sea-level rise, and drought, leading to rising costs in water and wastewater service. No family in the U.S. should have to choose between paying for their water or paying for other essential needs, like food or heat. This fact sheet explains the U.S. water affordability crisis, the current state of federal action, and recommendations for a renewed national commitment to safe, affordable water.

In response to the passing of the IRA, we put together a short summary of how the compromises embedded in the bill reflect a national approach to climate policy that has long focused on incrementally reducing emissions without centering environmental and economic justice.

Four in 10 residents in unincorporated Alameda County are renters, including the majority of Black and Latinx residents. Many were already facing a crisis due to soaring rents before the pandemic, and they have been hit hard by the virus and its economic impacts. Without eviction protection, debt relief, financial support, and lasting renter protections, Covid-impacted renters will be left behind as the region begins to recover, deepening existing inequities. Key findings:

• In unincorporated Alameda County, 2,200 renter households—13 percent of renter households—were behind on rent in May 2021.
• These renters face an estimated $12 million in rent debt, approximately $5,500 per household.
• The communities of Cherryland and Ashland had the highest pandemic unemployment rates in unincorprated Alameda County: 14 percent and 13.5 percent, respectively.

See the accompanying methodology. 

 

In the Bay Area, as elsewhere, the coronavirus and its economic fallout have disproportionately impacted the very same people that were on the economic margins before the pandemic, including Black, Latinx, and immigrant communities (especially undocumented workers), and low-wage workers. And they are about to face an additional threat: the risk of being evicted when they can’t pay rent because they’ve lost jobs and income because of the pandemic. Without long-term eviction protections, these renters are at risk of being caught in a coming wave of evictions which could force them out of their neighborhoods or even onto the street.

This fact sheet was created to inform regional and local eviction prevention efforts in the Bay Area. Key findings include:

• 137,500 Bay Area renter households were behind on rent in January 2021.
• Bay Area renters face an estimated $488 million in rent debt, approximately $3,600 per household.
• The vast majority of renters who are behind have experienced job and income losses during the pandemic: 78 percent have lost employment income.
• 87 percent of renters who are behind are people of color, and 81 percent earn less than $75,000. Only 6 percent of households with incomes of $75,000 or more are behind on rent.

See the accompanying analysis of eviction risk in the Bay Area, methodology, and Spanish version.

This fact sheet updates the eviction risk fact estimates we produced in 2020 for Contra Costa County (fact sheet and analysis), San Mateo County, Sonoma County, and California in partnership with the Raise the Roof Coalition, People’s Alliance of San Mateo County, North Bay Organizing Project, and Housing NOW!

This fact sheet was created in partnership with Housing NOW! California, to support their work to advance policies that protect renters at risk of eviction during the Covid-19 emergency. This document was published in March 2021. You can also view the January 2021 version of the fact sheet here. Key findings include:

• 814,200 million California renter households were behind on rent in January 2021, down from 1.1 million households in December 2020.
• Californian renters face an estimated $2.4 billion in rent debt, approximately $2,900 per household.
• The vast majority of renters who are behind have experienced job and income losses during the pandemic: 80 percent have lost employment income.
• 77 percent of renters who are behind are people of color, and 77 percent earn less than $50,000. Only 6 percent of households with incomes $75,000 or more are behind on rent.

See the accompanying methodology and Spanish version.

Learn more about Housing NOW! California.

This fact sheet was created in partnership with the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County, Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, and Urban Habitat, member organizations of the People’s Alliance of San Mateo County, to support their work to advance policies that protect renters at risk of eviction during the COVID-19 emergency. Key findings include:

• 7,900 San Mateo County households – including 4,800 children – are at imminent risk of eviction and homelessness if the county's eviction moratorium is lifted because they include one or 7ore workers who’ve lost their jobs and have no replacement income.
• An additional 5,100 households could be at risk of eviction with the end of the weekly $600 Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation.

See the accompanying methodology.

Learn more about the People's Alliance of San Mateo County.

Over one third of residents in the United States are renters, including the majority of Black and Latino residents. Many renters were already facing a crisis due to soaring rents before the pandemic, and they have been hit hard by the virus and its economic impacts. Without long-term eviction protections, these renters are at risk of being caught in a coming wave of evictions which could force them out of their neighborhoods or even onto the street. In partnership with Our Homes, Our Health, the National Equity Atlas team created a series of fact sheets to support their work across the country to advance policies that protect renters at risk of eviction during the Covid-19 emergency. Our Homes, Our Health is a collaborative initiative of the National Housing Justice Grassroots Table, including the Center for Popular Democracy, Partnership for Working Families, People’s Action, the Right to the City Alliance, and Alliance for Housing Justice.

You can download fact sheets for the following states: California, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Oregon, and Washington. Fact sheets for the following local geographies are also available for download: Bay Area, CA; Bedford County, TN, Contra Costa County, CA, San Mateo County, CA, and Sonoma County, CA. More fact sheets to come.

See the accompanying methodology for the state fact sheets. For the county fact sheets, please see the notes at the end of the individual fact sheets for a link to the methodology.

This fact sheet was created in partnership with the North Bay Organizing Project to support their work in Sonoma County to advance policies that protect renters at risk of eviction during the COVID-19 emergency. Key findings include:

• 7,000 Sonoma households – including 5,100 children – are at imminent risk of eviction and homelessness if the county's eviction moratorium is lifted because they include one or more workers who’ve lost their jobs and have no replacement income.

• An additional 4,400 households could be at risk of eviction once the $600 weekly Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation ends.

See the accompanying methodology. 

Learn more about the North Bay Organizing Project.