March 13, 2020
COVID-19 Anti-Eviction Measures
Statement on Proposed City Council Resolution in Support of an Eviction Moratorium
Tell City Council to Halt All Evictions During the Covid-19 Pandemic
We fully support the resolution introduced on March 12th by Councilmember Gym calling for a moratorium on evictions. While our organizations support the entirety of the resolution, we as tenant advocates want to highlight the importance of an eviction moratorium. Our country’s lack of a social safety net has been laid bare by the coronavirus pandemic, as the most vulnerable citizens will face the greatest consequences. Workers who rely on hourly wages, part-time jobs, and the gig economy face the real risk that their income will dry up. The lack of paid sick or family leave in many places outside of Philadelphia will force people to risk their health and physically go to jobs they cannot do remotely. Parents will scramble to find child care options when their children’s schools are shut down; and children who rely on schools for food will not receive it. All while millions of these same families lack access to healthcare, which should be a basic right.
To ease the burden on the most vulnerable families, the City of Philadelphia should use every tool at its disposal during this crisis to ensure that all Philadelphians are secure in their homes. Making sure that people are safe and comfortable at home is one of the most effective ways to protect the health and economic well-being of our neighbors. A moratorium on evictions will help by allowing the most vulnerable families to weather this crisis as best they can and resume their jobs, education, and social life after the outbreak has ended.
Moreover, forcing people to attend hearings in Philadelphia’s eviction court would endanger the health of tenants, landlords, court staff, and attorneys. Each morning, dozens, if not hundreds, of people from across Philadelphia are tightly packed together in a small courtroom as the list of eviction cases is read. There is no way to practice “social distancing” when every seat in the courtroom is full. Tenants have no option but to appear in court, or else risk losing their homes. Seniors, persons with disabilities, and immunocompromised Penn Law National Lawyer’s Guild citizens, all of whom are already among the most vulnerable Philadelphians, would be forced to choose between exercising their due process rights to defend critical housing, and risking illness or even death at a rate many times higher than the general population.
Similarly, a spike of coronavirus-related evictions would overwhelm the City’s emergency housing providers. And overcrowded shelters or emergency housing centers would present a nightmare for public health officials attempting to stop the spread of this pandemic. The coronavirus outbreak will exact an enormous financial, emotional, and physical toll on many families throughout Philadelphia. But, the City can blunt the impact by ensuring its citizens enjoy housing security during this time.
We urge City Council to adopt Councilmember Gym’s resolution and ask that the First Judicial District, the Sheriff’s Office, and Landlord-Tenant Officer take immediate action to suspend eviction court hearings and halt any scheduled evictions.
Signatories
The Public Interest Law Center
Community Legal Services
Senior Law Center
AIDS Law Project
Legal Help Center
Philadelphia Rent Control Coalition
HELP: MLP at Philadelphia Nurse-Family Partnership
TURN
Legal Clinic for the Disabled
Philadelphia Tenants Union
Philadelphia VIP
Homeless Advocacy Project
Regional Housing Legal Services
Face to Face
The Philadelphia Rent Control Coalition is Philly Tenants Union, Lilac, Philly Socialists, Reclaim Philadelphia, Tenant Union Representative Network, Penn Law National Lawyers’ Guild, Community Legal Services, OnePA, Socialist Alternative Philadelphia, and Neighborhood Networks.
Divest from police, invest in black communities! Use this tool right now to tell our City Council members to Pass the Emergency Housing Protection Act:
secure.everyaction.com/ym0tZqGBf0WhYhIPptMrDQ2
Philly PASS the Emergency Housing Protection Act
secure.everyaction.com
"The move was approved by 6-4 vote at Common Council on Wednesday night. The burden now lies with New York State to either grant permission or deny the city's attempt. Ithaca would be the first municipality in the country to grant rent debt forgiveness in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak, which has tripled unemployment in the Ithaca area and made it difficult or impossible for many people to pay rent."
City seeks permission from state to cancel three months of rent debt
ithaca.com
The City of Ithaca will ask the New York State Department of Health for permission to forgive three months of rent debt via executive order by Mayor Svante Myrick."When this is all said and done, we want people to understand that this is an ongoing struggle. And once we win these concessions from the landlords for this specific issue, we have other things to fight for, like rent control and public housing. We need things like that if we are going to continue to protect our community’s most vulnerable members. And we just can’t let people forget that when shit hit the fan, our landlords, our property managers, our governing officials just left us in the dust, or they told us to fend for ourselves. But tenant organizing says the opposite: The main point is that no one is doing this alone."
newrepublic.com
“We’re not asking for handouts. We’re asking for genuine human compassion during this time.”L.A. Tenants Union
"Multiple polls have found rent cancellation during the pandemic to have bipartisan support. Still, it’s doubtful politicians will follow through; tenant suffering has done little to sway lawmakers in years past. That’s why tenants must view themselves as the agents of this change. Rent relief won’t lead to more rights, and it won’t happen on our terms. But cancellation would rewrite the script of power relations, and it could happen building by building, through collective work—and organized rent strikes."
It's time to cancel the rent!
Today a large crew just prevented tenant harassment in West Philly from a notorious management company. 35+ people (spread apart carefully wearing masks) prepared to block illegal and unsafe entry from a landlord. We won.
Call or email before 3 pm to speak at tomorrow’s City Council Hearing! Let's let our politicians know why we need housing relief and rent control. Here’s what will be discussed at 9:30 AM: phlcouncil.com/councilmembers-gym-brooks-and-gauthier-introduce-emergency-housing-protection-pack...
STATEMENT ON PROPOSED CITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF AN EVICTION MORATORIUM