Thousands of Americans plan to take part in a rent strike on Friday, calling for state leaders to cancel rent during the coronavirus crisis.
Activists in New York, Pennsylvania and California are encouraging tenants to withhold rent, whether they are able to pay or not, to draw attention to the plight of those unable to pay.
The protest is expected to represent the largest coordinated rent strike in America in decades, and comes as the labor department announced another 3.8 million people lost their jobs last week, with pressure growing on state leaders nationwide to increase their efforts on housing.
More than 30 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits in the past six weeks, as the coronavirus has caused widespread business closures.
The New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is among those voicing support for the strikes, which are being coordinated by an array of housing groups.
“People aren’t striking because they don’t feel like paying rent, they’re striking because they can’t,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
In New York, more than 12,000 people have pledged to not pay their rent, and progressive state lawmakers have proposed legislation that would suspend or cancel rent payments for tenants who lost income due to the coronavirus. In March, New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, suspended evictions for 90 days, in a move that prevents landlords from ousting tenants who cannot pay their rent.
But critics say that merely postpones the problem.
“We need a suspension of rent and automatic forgiveness of any rent, mortgage or utility payment owed or accumulated during the length of this crisis,” said Housing Justice for All, which campaigns to increase tenants’ rights and to end homelessness in New York.
Like Cuomo, Governor Gavin Newsom of California has barred evictions due to coronavirus hardship – tenants must provide proof their income has been affected by the pandemic – but stopped short of waiving individuals’ rent payments. About 8,000 members of the Los Angeles Tenants Union are expected to withhold rent as of 1 May, while a similar movement is taking place in Philadelphia.
If the estimates of New York City organizers prove accurate, the rent strike would be the largest there since the 1930s, when tenants in Harlem and the Lower East Side demanded lower rent. In Harlem, the protesters were predominantly African Americans, who protested against being charged higher rent than white tenants.