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California tried to protect tenants during COVID. Nearly 36,000 households — and counting — still faced eviction

California’s recently expired pandemic eviction ban didn’t prevent nearly 36,000 households from being hit with eviction lawsuits last year.

The data comes from the most recent annual report by the Judicial Branch of California and underscores the limits of state efforts to mute the pandemic’s effects on financially vulnerable residents. Renter advocates fear it’s also a preview of evictions to come after two years of upheaval in one of the country’s most expensive places to live.

“Whatever the court eviction numbers are, the real displacement is bigger,” said Shanti Singh, communications and legislative director for statewide advocacy group Tenants Together. “We’re concerned about seeing a spike in homelessness.”

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