New York anti-eviction activists call for ‘rent strike’

"We are striking to cancel rent in New York state during the COVID-19 public health crisis," writes the activist publication Truthout. "We are striking because we cannot pay, or in solidarity with those who cannot pay. We will not go hungry or without medical care in order to pay rent."

According to the organization, there are 57 properties in New York City where tenants are on a rent strike, but that the movement is gaining steam across the United States.

"[While] rent strikes are a tried-and-true tactic of the diverse housing justice movement, they are just one tool in a hefty arsenal. Community organizing strategies include occupations of vacant but habitable homes, outdoor encampments, advocacy of legislative relief (including a universal guarantee of homes for all), eviction disruptions, mutual aid, efforts to provide free legal counsel to those facing displacement, and the creation of tiny homes on publicly owned land."

The group cites a study arguing that being evicted makes individuals more likely to contract coronavirus.

Housing advocates have been warning since the pandemic-related economic downturn that millions of Americans are at risk of being evicted, as the mass shutdown of businesses in states such as New York have left millions without the income to pay rent.

According to one report, as many as 12 million Americans will owe an average of $5,850 in rent by January 1st after the Center for Disease Control's moratorium on evictions expires on December 31st.

Under the CDC's rent moratorium, any household making less than $99,000 in 2020 would be excused from paying rent until January if they claim in a declaration, under the penalty of perjury, that they would "likely become homeless, need to move into a homeless shelter, or need to move into a new residence shared by other people who live in close quarters" if they were to be evicted.

Due to the looming expiration of the moratorium, however, activists are rallying around the call to "cancel rent" across the country, throwing support behind legislation proposed by Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar which would relieve all tenants of unpaid rent starting from April 2020 and extending until the pandemic is over, while also compensating landlords for losses. It is unclear how much such a proposal would cost the federal government.

In one instance, a court in Jackson County, Missouri allowed landlords to evict tenants who failed to sign declarations that they have nowhere else to go if they move out. Activists responded by chaining the doors of the courthouse shut, trapping everyone inside the building.

Meanwhile, in Portland, Oregon, activists barricaded the house of a family which was set to be evicted by police after the house was purchased by a landlord at foreclosure after the residing family failed to pay their mortgage.

Quoting National Low Income Housing Coalition vice president Sarah Saadian, Truthout advocated "putting the burden onto the courts and onto landlords" as it "would go a long way in keeping people in their homes." With such a change, it would be the responsibility of the landlord to obtain a declaration from tenants, rather than tenants being obliged to provide a declaration at their own prompting.