What's at stake?
Fresno City Councilmember Tyler Maxwell said the Eviction Protection Program doesn’t need to set restrictions or verify the income of the individuals it helps, especially considering its already rigorous intake process. He said the city should be against all illegal evictions regardless of which part of the city, or who is affected. Most of them are taking place in south and central Fresno, according to data from the City Attorney's Office.
Back in March, city officials announced that they’d be using a state grant for homelessness and housing to fund Fresno’s Eviction Protection Program.
Half a year later, it turns out that never ended up happening.
Councilmember Tyler Maxwell told Fresnoland that he was convinced by Mayor Jerry Dyer’s administration that the Local Housing Trust Fund would be a better source of funding for the program.
However, he later learned that those funds are subject to a number of restrictions, including going out to the public for feedback on how it’s used. Additionally, the funds would require any individuals seeking help to go through an income reporting and verification process.
“I feel like I had the wool pulled over my eyes,” Maxwell told Fresnoland. “A couple months afterwards, when we passed the budget, it was brought to my attention that anything that’s in this fund is going to be subject to all these requirements.”
“When I found that out, I freaked out,” Maxwell said.
During the Fresno City Council meeting this Thursday, Maxwell will propose an item to exempt the Eviction Protection Program from requirements placed on funds from the Local Housing Trust Fund.
“This goes against the very basic idea behind eviction protection,” Maxwell said. “When people are facing the potential 72-hour eviction, the last thing you want them to do is scramble to find documentation and perform all these verification requirements because they could be at jeopardy of losing their housing.”
City Manager Georgeanne White declined to comment on the item when asked about it by Fresnoland. The item would direct the city administration to exempt the Eviction Protection Program of the specific requirements.
The program specifically provides legal help to people who are being illegally evicted by their landlords — put simply, for a reason that is not allowed under current state laws. Back in 2022, the temporary federal American Rescue Plan Act funded the program’s creation.
When individuals who believe they are the victims of an illegal eviction reach out to the Fresno City Attorney’s Office, they go through an intake process before being forwarded to outside legal counsel for casework and representation.
In the 2025 fiscal year — which began in July 2024 and ran until the end of June — the program received 330 intake calls, and only 146 were referred to outside counsel, according to data compiled by the City Attorney’s Office shared with Fresnoland.
In the 2025 fiscal year alone, the program was able to dismiss 26 eviction cases in court and prevent another 57 evictions from being filed.
In 29 cases, the amount of money owed by a tenant was reduced. In 21 cases, the tenant was able to remain in their home. The program also stopped four tenants from lockouts carried out by the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
“It was a program designed to help prevent people from becoming homeless,” Maxwell said. “Whether you’re making $10,000, $50,000 or $60,000, if you’re in a place where you’re going to be potentially illegally evicted and you don’t have the funds to hire your own attorney, it really shouldn’t matter. You should be able to rely on the city’s services.”
Maxwell also said the City Attorney’s Office has been paying for the program out of its own budget since the beginning of the new fiscal year on July 1.
Maxwell told Fresnoland that there’s no need to institute an income verification process — especially for individuals who are in a tumultuous situation — on top of the intake process that already exists.
“I can tell you, from a financial perspective, it’s a lot more expensive getting somebody off the streets than it is keeping somebody in their homes,” Maxwell added. “While we haven’t been able to prevent all homelessness in our city, we’ve been able to tackle a chunk through the eviction protection program on a pretty modest budget.”
Maxwell said the City of Fresno should be against all illegal evictions in Fresno, regardless of which part of the city, or who is affected.
South and central Fresno appear to be where the bulk of the program’s calls come from. However, even in north Fresno, more than 55 people called for help dealing with illegal evictions during the last fiscal year.
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