Homelessness and Rent Due to COVID-19
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Catalog Entry
The artifact shows tenants in Queens, New York, participating in the rent strike. With the sudden loss of many jobs, tenants aren't able to pay their rent, instead need to pay for food. Ysvelia Silva is a woman who lived in one of the complexes in Queens, she was also the one to start and bring attention to the strike. The strike started May 1st, 2020. Silva did not start this strike as an act of disrespect to landlords, but to simply shed more light on the situation. People are not capable of paying rent, when they do not have an income. Most people in the apartments joined in on the strike, “Many of the residents can’t afford rent next month, organizers say. Others are able to pay but say they won’t, to help bring more attention to the cause.” (Parker). Even if residents were capable of paying rent monthly, they still participated by not paying to add more attention to the strike. Not only New York participated in a rent strike in 2020, but also many other major cities across the country.
So, of course the pandemic had a huge effect on the working class. The root problem for the cause of the rent strike was the skyrocketing rate of unemployment in the United States. Around April, 2020 is when a nationwide lockdown occurred, this caused a lot of people to either stop working or become unemployed. During this period the only people allowed to work were essential workers, which included health care professionals, as well as grocery clerks. The Bureau of Labor Statistics stated, “The unemployment rate in April 2020 increased by 10.3 percentage points to 14.7 percent. This is the highest rate and the largest over-the-month increase in the history of the data (available back to January 1948). The number of unemployed persons rose by 15.9 million to 23.1 million in April. The sharp increases in these measures reflect the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to contain it.”(U.S). A stay at home order was issued to the U.S in March of 2020 and in just one month the unemployment rate rose by 15.9 million. COVID was so sudden and no one was prepared for what was to come. Not being able to work caused stress on millions of people. With not having a steady income people were not able to pay rent or other necessities, and in some cases left people homeless.
As stated above, many people became homeless during the pandemic due to numerous circumstances. Becoming evicted was a big promebel starting to occur in the early stages of the pandemic. No jobs, means no income coming in, then means not being able to pay rent. With the uprising in evictions there was a federal order that had to be put in place a few months after the pandemic started, “The large volume of evictions left many people experiencing homelessness unhoused as shelters were forced to reduce capacity. Interestingly, this surging number of evictions led to a Federal Order to temporarily halt residential evictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, for many landlords, the order created a financial burden of housing renters with no payments.” (Fish). Everything surrounding rent became a huge problem, not only for the tenants but also the landlords. The landlords depend on the income from monthly rent to help pay their expenses and now they are not able to.
The photo above shows Wilson Siguencia outside his apartment building. He is standing in front of a sign that was made that says “Cancel the rent dont increase the number of homelessness.” New York is one the states with the highest population of homelessness. The message of the sign is to not increase the homeless rate because of a pandemic that was unavoidable.The point of the rent strike in New York was mainly aimed at lawmakers, “rent strikers want state lawmakers to impose a “universal cancellation of any rent, mortgage, or utility payments owed or accumulated during the length of this crisis”(Parker). One outcome of the rent strike that occurred in New York, is that no one could be evicted from their apartment until late june. It became a little more helpful when the CARES act signed into law the first stimulus check to be sent out to people all across the country. The first Stimulus check sent out was for $1200, with an extra $500 for each dependent. The stimulus check was sent to families at the end of april and beginning of May. This money was very helpful for many individuals that were struggling with paying important bills, one being rent.
The rent strike in New York was effective. Participants wanted to get a message across to not only the landlords but all lawmakers. Many tenants were unable to afford to pay rent and nothing was being done, so the renters of New York had to get their message across one way. The meaning behind striking is to get a solution from a problem. People all across the country were struggling, something needed to be done. So having members of a New York community come together and have a renters strike is very memorable. No one wanted to see more and more people become homeless in the midst of a very horrible pandemic.
Bibliography
unitedwaynca.org/stories/effect-pandemic-homeless-us/.
Parker, Will, and Nicole Friedman. “Rent Strike Planned for May 1 as Pain of Coronavirus Deepens.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 27 Apr. 2020,
www.wsj.com/articles/rent-strike-planned-for-may-1-as-pain-of-coronavirus-de epens-11587988800. U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Unemployment Rate Rises to Record High 14.7 Percent in April 2020.”
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 13 May 2020,
www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2020/unemployment-rate-rises-to-record-high-14-point-7-percent-in-april-2020.htm?view_full.