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Eugene

(61,899 posts) Tue Mar 31, 2020, 07:48 AM Mar 2020

'This is about survival': California tenants plan rent strikes as Covid-19 relief falls short

Source: The Guardian

'This is about survival': California tenants plan rent strikes as Covid-19 relief falls short

Renters say governor’s emergency eviction protections leave many behind and that the only option is to withhold money

Sam Levin in Los Angeles and Vivian Ho in San Francisco
Tue 31 Mar 2020 11.00 BST
Last modified on Tue 31 Mar 2020 12.01 BST

Tenants across California are organizing “rent strikes” for the month of April, arguing they will not be able to pay their landlords for the foreseeable future and that the minimal protections now in place fail to provide relief for vulnerable renters.

As Covid-19 shelter-in-place orders have led to a surge in unemployment and slowed down the state’s economy, the California governor, Gavin Newsom, has passed a two-month delay on imposing evictions for people who cannot pay rent due to the crisis. His order prevents the enforcement of evictions until the end of May but requires tenants to repay the full amount later, forces renters to jump through numerous hoops and opens the door for evictions to resume in June.

While several large municipalities have passed stronger protections, tenants’ groups say the governor’s order does not go far enough and could pave the way for an even more catastrophic housing crisis than the one plaguing California before coronavirus.

Activists are now coordinating rent strikes, a practice that has gained traction in LA in recent years and involves tenants organizing as a group, withholding rents and making collective demands.

“We are all suffering, but we shouldn’t have to suffer to this extent,” said Melissa Reyes, a 25-year-old Los Angeles resident who plans to withhold her rent and is helping organize a strike in her Boyle Heights building. “This is about survival and necessity.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/31/california-rent-strike-coronavirus-eviction

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'This is about survival': California tenants plan rent strikes as Covid-19 relief falls short (Original Post) Eugene Mar 2020 OP

I'd read up on "rent strikes" before participating in one. Uben Mar 2020 #1

Uben

(7,719 posts)

1. I'd read up on "rent strikes" before participating in one.

Reply to Eugene (Original post)

Tue Mar 31, 2020, 09:58 AM

Mar 2020

From what I've read, rent strikes have been used against landlords who fail to keep up properties or deny services covered by contract. To strike because you don't have money to pay because you lost your job is a recipe for failure. It's not the landlords fault you lost your job, and they will be forced to evict you, ruin your credit rating, and make it extremely difficult for you to ever rent again! They have bills to pay, employees to pay, and taxes to pay. To think that they won't evict you as soon as possible is a pipe dream and recipe for disaster.
These are difficult times, and most reputable landlords are willing to work out payment plans for those affected by this virus. If you want to live somewhere and not pay rent, a better course of action is to lobby congress to subsidize those landlords for the rents lost. They have passed stimulus packages for businesses to retain employees, but as of yet, have done nothing for tenement owners to recoup their losses. My best guess is there will be some kind of legislation to address this situation very soon. I think I heard Maxine Waters address this briefly a couple of days ago.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out if tenants don't pay rent, the tenement will close or be sold. Then you will be out of a place to live, have evictions on your rental record and your credit destroyed. That's not a win by any standard. Please consult legal advise before participating in a rent strike that is based on tenants losing their job. Your landlord is not your employer. Its not his/her fault you were laid-off, furloughed, or fired. The law is not on your side and no judge is going to side with you because you don't have money to pay.

That said, if you have a landlord that doesn't live up to the contract you signed with him at the time of occupancy, then you may have grounds for withholding rent. But, even then you would need to consult a lawyer as to the viability of your case.

There are lots of homeless on the streets already and I suspect those numbers will be growing exponentially until this crisis is absolved.

Good luck and let's pray this thing is over soon!

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