What is #cancelrent? Thousands across US take part in biggest rent strike in decades
Coinciding with May Day, thousands across the country are taking part in the #cancelrent movement, the biggest rent strike in decades, and calling on their states to freeze rent during the coronavirus pandemic.
Activists in California, New York and Pennsylvania have encouraged people to not pay rent, even if they are able to, in solidarity of those who can’t afford it, The Guardian reported.
Organizers have planned rent strikes in California, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Tenants in Seattle asked landlords for leniency during the crisis and said they were thinking about striking, according to The Seattle Times.
Strikers in New York are expected to stage a caravan protest at Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s mansion in Albany, strike at his office in New York City, and demonstrate from their homes and online, according to NBC New York.
In New York, around 12,000 residents have pledged not to pay rent this month, according to Gothamist.
Jairo Nunez, who has lived in Elmhurst, Queens, for 40 years, told NBC New York he’s withholding rent for the first time.
“I’m not going to pay May or June. Our aim is to get something resolved from the governor. We want the governor to do something for the tenants, not just the rich people, the businesses,” Nunez said, according to NBC New York. “I do have the money, but I want to be with the tenants who are not going to be able to pay rent (on May 1).”
The Labor Department reported Thursday that last week, 3.8 million more people filed new initial unemployment claims, bringing the six-week total to 30.3 million, according to CNN.
Nearly 44% of New York City residents said in a survey by real estate group PropertyNest that they won’t have enough money to pay rent.
In California, more than 9 million tenants spent more than 30% of their incomes on housing and were burdened by high rents, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Both Cuomo and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have stopped evictions during the pandemic, The Guardian reported.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has supported the campaign, according to The New York Times.
“It’s not that it’s impossible to do and it’s not that we can’t do it,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a Facebook live video, according to The New York Times. “We lack enough politicians with political will to actually help people who are tenants and actually help people who are mom-and-pop landlords.”
Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) introduced a bill that would cancel rent and mortgage payments across the country during the pandemic, The Hill reported. The bill would also create a relief fund for mortgage holds and landlords.
“The coronavirus crisis is more than just a public health crisis — it’s an economic crisis,” Omar said in a statement, according to The Hill.
The rent strikes have alarmed landlords, who fear that they could have negative economic repercussions during the pandemic and lead to a worse housing crisis.
Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association representing 25,000 landlords in New York City, told The New York Times that the rent strike would “create an economic and housing pandemic.”
“The city and its residential housing landscape will crumble into an economic abyss worse than the 1970s, when New York was the national poster child for urban blight,” Strasburg said, according to the outlet.
This story was originally published May 1, 2020 at 1:54 PM with the headline "What is #cancelrent? Thousands across US take part in biggest rent strike in decades."