Comrade,
The DC Tenants Union organized really aggressively last week alongside two dozen other organizations—and DSA!—to call on the DC Council and Mayor to pressure Landlord-Tenant Court to close, and halt all eviction proceedings—and we won. But in the days since the emergency legislation passed, the full weight of the situation has hit, and we need much more relief for our city. Now is not the time for half-measures! As you may have seen, an unprecedented number of Americans filed for unemployment last week, and D.C.’s Chief Financial Officer has estimated that unemployment could reach 20% in our city. So now we've joined the DCTU in calling for:
-
Cancelling all rent and mortgage payments for the duration of the state of emergency, plus a month
- A two-year rent freeze on increases. We've already gotten calls from folks whose landlords want to raise the rent more than 12%
- A right to an attorney in eviction cases (this week 21 landlords filed 430+ eviction suits KNOWING WE'RE IN A PANDEMIC)
- Vastly expanded funding and access to emergency rent assistance
- Finally, passing the entire Reclaim Rent Control platform into law.
You can find
the full statement and
a slate of resources on the DCTU website. A lot of people are still safe and employed in their jobs, but tens of thousands of people across the city are not. They're the ones who aren't on Facebook or Twitter. They're the ones who are going to have to choose between food and rent if we don't cancel rent and mortgage payments. 2008 proved how easy it is for the government to bail out banks. Let's bail out the working class instead.
Please sign, share widely, and call your councilmembers until they say yes.
If you need help organizing in your own building to negotiate with your landlord, please email the organizers of Stomp Out Slumlords, working in conjunction with the DCTU, at:
[email protected]
In solidarity,
Metro D.C. DSA
