Tenancy: credit reporting: lower income households: evaluation.

Existing law, beginning July 1, 2021, and until July 1, 2025, requires a landlord of an assisted housing development, as defined, to offer tenants obligated on the lease of units in the development the option of having their rental payments reported to at least one consumer reporting agency. Existing law authorizes a landlord to charge a tenant that elects to have rent reported and prescribes requirements regarding how the offer of rent reporting is to be made. This bill would require an independent evaluator, upon appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose, to be selected by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation and to be responsible for conducting an evaluation on the impact of rental payment reporting in this state, as prescribed. The bill would require the evaluator to be chosen through a competitive process to be completed on or before March 1, 2024. The bill would require the evaluator to create a report based on the evaluation described above that contains certain information, including the estimated percentage of assisted housing developments in compliance with this provision and the number of participating tenants. The bill would require the annual report, on or before January 1, 2025, to be posted on the department's internet website and distributed to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature for review.