CANCEL THE RENTS

The city, state, and national moratoriums on evictions are not enough. As these moratoriums are lifted or overturned in court as rents come due, we still don't have the money! In December 2019, when COVID-19 presented in China, the United States was warned that we would be affected. Instead of using the next two months to prepare, Trump and the U.S. government ignored public health experts, even ridiculing them. Due to this lack of preparedness, the United States became the epicenter of the pandemic.

As of Aug. 5, 2021, some 620,000 people in the United States have died and more than 35 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed. People are being evicted from their homes while at the same time the COVID-19 pandemic is surging again. No one should be at risk of losing their home amid a pandemic in the richest country in the world!

As a result of the economic crisis, many renters will be unable to pay their rent this month. No one should lose their housing for any reason in this crisis! Now is the time to act to cancel rents and mortgage payments for tenants, homeowners, small landlords and other small businesses!

A short-term suspension of evictions is not enough to save people's homes. And the meager rescue stimulus payments the government provided are long gone for most people. Even if there is another one, it will be needed for food, healthcare and other necessities.

Canceling rents and mortgage payments for the duration of the crisis can be won! Since the start of the pandemic in the United States, the federal government has pumped at least 5 trillion dollars into the big banks and the largest corporations. Only $249 billion was allocated for unemployment funding. This massive gift to the banks — the 1% at the top, compared to the 160 million U.S. workers — is 20 times the amount allotted for the unemployed. The money is there, it is simply a question of whether it is used to bail out Wall Street or to protect the homes of poor and working people. This wealth and the vast number of vacant housing units can be used to provide shelter for the homeless as well.

The government has the authority to cancel the rent. But this will be bitterly opposed by the landlords and big banks. The mobilization of the people, done in a socially responsible way, is urgently needed to ensure housing for all.

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