WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MAY 7, 2020 7
western Queens go on rent strike
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 off er
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 co-sponsoring Rep.
Omar’s bill, off ered 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. “Oft en 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
CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities members hold up “Cancel Rent” signs in Korean, Chinese and Bengali.
Courtesy of CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities
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 fi nancial 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 signifi cantly aff ected, 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 fi vestory,
brick buildings, most of which
are aff ordable 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 benefi ts, 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 benefi ts, 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 offi ce 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 fi ghting 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 part-time for
the census until the fall, making calls
and encouraging people to fi ll 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 offi cials
act now.
“I love New York City,” she said. “I
hope things get better. We’ll be OK.”
/WWW.QNS.COM
