western Queens go on rent strike
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | MAY 8-MAY 14, 2020 3
federally-backed multifamily
mortgages a 90 day forbearance.
This means landlords
with a mortgage insured or
guaranteed by the federal
government can’t evict a tenant
for not paying rent for the
next three months.
During his daily press
briefings on May 1, Cuomo
acknowledged the protests by
tenants and landlords’ fears
that without rent, they won’t
be able to pay mortgages and
maintenance.
“What we’re doing is no one
can be evicted for nonpayment
of rent between now and June,
period. That is the law until
June,” Cuomo said. “Between
now and June, we’ll see what
happens. We’ll figure it out.”
But, many lawmakers
and community leaders don’t
think this helps renters.
City Council introduced
a package of bills on April 22
that included protections for
renters for the remainder of
the pandemic and beyond,
including extending time for
all NYC renters to repay rent,
blocking evictions and collection
of debts until April 2021,
and protecting tenants from
COVID-related harassment
and discrimination — all
sponsored by Speaker Corey
Johnson.
According to 6sft news,
the Real Estate Board of New
York (REBNY) recently called
Johnson’s legislation illegal
and asked for help to defeat
the bill.
Senate Deputy Leader Michael
Gianaris has led the
call for a tenant and mortgage
cancellation at the Senate
level with his bill S8125A,
co-sponsored by Senator Joseph
Addabbo, which would
suspend and forgive rent for
certain residential tenants,
small business tenants and
certain mortgage payments
for 90 days.
He’s received support from
fellow Queens lawmakers
including East Elmhurst’s
Senator Jessica Ramos, and
Astoria Assembly member
Aravella Simotas and Jackson
Height’s Assembly member
Michael DenDekker who are
sponsoring the Assembly’s
version of the bill, A10224A.
He’s even received support
from former Vice President
Joe Biden and Senator Bernie
Sanders.
“It has been clear for weeks
now that rents cannot be paid
with money that doesn’t exist
and therefore, rent will be
cancelled whether or not we
authorize it by law,” Gianaris
said. “I urge Governor Cuomo
to implement an executive order
to cancel rent obligations
and bring stability to the housing
market before it devolves
into a full blown crisis.”
According to Data for Progress’
surveys conducted with
The Justice Collaborative, 76
percent of poll respondents
support some versions of suspending
and forgiving rents
for residential tenants.
Rep. Ilhan Omar introduced
H.R. 6515: the Rent
and Mortgage Cancellation
Act to enact a national rent
and mortgage suspension in
response to the coronavirus
pandemic. Queens Rep. Carolyn
Maloney is co-sponsoring
the bill.
Queens Rep. Grace Meng
also introduced the Rent
and Mortgage Cancellation
Act, which would offer full
forgiveness of payment with
no accumulation of debt for
renters or homeowners and no
negative impact on their credit
rating or rental history.
Queens Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, who is also cosponsoring
Rep. Omar’s bill,
offered a solution during a
virtual town hall with Housing
Justice for All on April 27.
“People aren’t striking because
they don’t feel like paying
rent, people are striking
because they can’t pay rent,”
Ocasio-Cortez said. “Often
times the first reaction is,
‘What about the landlords,
what about people with mortgages?’
One thing you can do
is suspend mortgage payments
for three months, tack that on
to the end of the repayment
period. So let’s say you have
a 10-year mortgage, just suspend
it for three months and
make it a ten year and three
month mortgage, so that you
just make three additional
payments at the very end.”
Ocasio-Cortez said landlords
could take that suspension
time to cancel the rent of
any tenants in their building,
so those tenants don’t have to
pay it back and “it does not
create an additional financial
liability on that landlord.”
Contreras said what matters
most is what happens after
the 90-day moratorium.
“We understand it’s intersectional.
There are small
landlords too that will be
significantly affected, so go
ahead and cancel that too,”
Contreras said. “We need to
focus on what’s important
now, which is preserving
lives. I don’t want to believe
they’re going to allow this
massive chain of evictions to
happen.”
Immigrant and
undocumented
communities at greater
risk
Yvelisa Silva is a tenant of
one of the 10 buildings in Cosmopolitan
Houses in Woodside
going on rent strike. Cosmopolitan
Houses are made up
of five-story, brick buildings,
most of which are affordable
housing with a majority Latin
or Hispanic residents.
“There is no work, no money
to pay rent and eat. People
are worried about dealing
with sick family members
in small spaces. It’s an uphill
battle. People are very
afraid,” Silva, who was born
in Venezuela and has lived
and worked in NYC for more
than three decades, said in
Spanish.
According to the Association
for Neighborhood and
Housing Development, “New
York State’s renter population
is disproportionately Black
and Latinx,” who were already
disproportionately rent
burdened.
Additionally, many of New
York City’s undocumented
workers and their families —
approximately 738,000 New
Yorkers, including 218,000
children — didn’t qualify for
previous federal stimulus
checks or unemployment benefits,
leaving them at higher
risk for contracting the virus
as they look for work to pay
their bills.
Some of the most impacted
neighborhoods in Queens
— Jackson Heights, East
Elmhurst, and Jamaica —
have greater populations of
Black and Brown individuals
who are foreign born. Many of
them are also essential workers.
NYC’ Department of
Health data shows COVID-19
deaths have been disproportionately
higher in Hispanic,
Latin and Black people.
Silva noted many undocumented
immigrants in her
neighborhood are particularly
struggling.
“It’s worse for them because
they don’t have benefits,
but they should because they
also pay taxes,” Silva said.
When asked about the rent
strikes happening on May 1,
Cosmopolitan Houses General
Manager Steve Stadmeyer
told QNS they are focused on
providing essential services
to their residents while keeping
them and their staff safe.
He said they’ve retained 100
percent of their employees.
“Our office staff is answering
calls and emails from
home. In addition to addressing
maintenance and other
concerns, they are working
with residents who have been
impacted by COVID-19 by
directing them to programs
that may help them,” Stadmeyer
said. “Building porters
and handymen are working
every day in the epicenter of
this pandemic. It means a lot
to us that we have been able
to keep them working. We are
grateful that the majority of
residents have continued to
pay their rent because it allows
us to keep our buildings
clean and residents and staff
safe during these challenging
times for our community.”
But Silva, who is 66 years
old and a member of Woodside
on the Move, said that even
before the pandemic, they’ve
been fighting landlords who
make them pay extra for their
property maintenance.
And now, she understands
there may be even more tenants
who cannot pay rent due
to the unprecedented loss of
income or because they’ve
been infected with the virus.
“There are many people
feeling hopeless, many psychological
problems arising.
We will see a lot of that,” Silva
said. “Our people are used
to buscarsela working hard
for what they need. It is not
easy to see your bills without
being able to pay them. That
frustrates us all.”
Silva also acknowledges
the social toll this has on her
community.
“As Latinos, we are losing
that unity we feel for each other,
the hugs and the warmth.
And who knows for how long,”
she said.
She had to close her own
leather-importing business
located on Roosevelt Avenue
due to the pandemic. “No
one’s going out to buy purses
at this time,” she laughed.
Now, Silva’s working parttime
for the census until the
fall, making calls and encouraging
people to fill out their
forms. She believes it’s because
of undercounting in the
previous census that the city
did away with so many desperately
needed hospitals.
But Silva has faith things
will get better, if Cuomo and
elected officials act now.
“I love New York City,” she
said. “I hope things get better.
We’ll be OK.”
CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities members hold up “Cancel Rent” signs in Korean, Chinese and
Bengali. Courtesy of CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities
/QNS.COM
