Residents in Pasadena Are Advocating for Rent Suspension

An evictionmoratorium concerning residential and commercial renters was put in place as aneffort to protect thousands of local residents from being evicted fornon-payment of rent due to the global health crisis and economic catastropheCOVID-19 has caused.

Many peoplewere left with only a couple of weeks to learn about the temporary laws put inplace protecting them from losing their home and or place of business in casethey were unable to pay rent on the first month after COVID-19 restrictions.

Unemploymentrates have skyrocketed in the past couple weeks — as non-essential businessesare forced to temporarily close as government officials continue to extendrestriction orders to prevent the deadly virus from spreading — leavingthousands of people without work and without pay until further notice.

Although temporary laws have been put in place to protect tenants from being evicted in the state of California, some details remain unclear and are causing confusion. Now many local residents are beginning to advocate for rent forgiveness as the eviction moratorium expects residents to pay back due rent after the State of Emergency is lifted.

Community organizations such as the Pasadena Tenants Union (PTU) have already joined the #foodnotrent movement — a unification of people demanding a rent suspension policy from their local city officials via social media platforms.

Reasons asto why eviction moratoriums are simply not good enough to secure a safe futurepost COVID-19 were recently presented to city officials in Pasadena.

Some of thecomments from local residents during Pasadena’s City Council meeting on March30 spoke to the terrifying and sad reality of the choices renters in ourcommunity face every day.

“This crisisis broader than many people imagine. It is hitting everyone. The only way tokeep Pasadena on its feet and stop a complete collapse is to enact a rentsuspension.”

Similar initiatives for rent suspension have already begun across the nation and appear to be garnering the support of leaders in congress such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), U.S. representative of New York’s 14th District, who took to twitter last month to speak on the subject.

“I justdon’t understand how it’s reasonable to expect what could be millions of peopleand small businesses, who suddenly had their incomes cut off, to pay rent,mortgages, & major bills on Apr 1st without any payment moratoriums orimmediate relief.”

On April 9, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced rent suspension for disaster survivors in California, Florida, North Carolina and Texas due to the current pandemic. Per the announcement, the suspension applies to rent only and rent collection is expected to resume July 1. People who qualify for rent suspension will be receiving a notification by mail from FEMA.

Local organizations, such as the Los Angeles Tenants Union, have also called for an immediate rent suspension including immigrants who unfortunately have been left out from financial assistance.

The majorityof all proposals for rent forgiveness seem to have one common denominator as towhy rent suspension is a better solution than eviction moratoriums: debt.

If a tenant living in Pasadena is paying $1,300 for rent and will not be able to pay rent for the next six months based on the speculation that city restrictions will be lifted by then the average tenant will be left with an unforeseen debt of over $7,000 dollars to pay within six months of the State of Emergency being lifted, according to the Pasadena Eviction Moratorium.

Residentswill be expected to pay double their rent dues for six months — a perilousburden to face post COVID-19. Details on what will happen if tenants are unableto pay back rent are yet to be determined, but not protecting tenants from beingif unable to pay rent may cause a major setback in the efforts achieved todecrease homelessness in Pasadena.

PTU has been leading the initiative for rent forgiveness in Pasadena. Their website is filled with resources for local residents such as a tenant solidarity hotline operated by volunteer members of the Union, bimonthly meetings held every second and fourth Thursday of every month at 7 p.m., and rent-withholding letter samples for tenants just to name a few resources. You can find these by simply visiting their website PasadenaTenantsUnion.org.

PTU will join the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) on a car caravan call-to-action for Governor Gavin Newsome to include all Californians who may not necessarily be benefiting from all the policies put in place protecting residents that are being affected by COVID-19 on Tuesday, April 19.

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