On Sunday evening, around two dozen neighbors in a Sunset Park residential building logged onto an emergency video conference about looming rent payments. Susana Lopez, a leader of the building’s tenants association and recently laid-off retail worker, began by asking how many people had lost their primary income as a result of COVID-19. More than half of those on the call said they had. Several others expected they would in the coming days.
Another resident lamented the maddening double-standard: that property owners could take advantage of a three month mortgage forbearance, yet they were still expected to pay rent.
When the free Zoom call timed out 40 minutes later, a majority of the tenants had voiced interest in withholding this month’s rent as leverage, while threatening a prolonged rent strike if their landlord didn't submit to building-wide concessions.
"The position they’ve put us in is that we have no other choice at this point," Lopez, 32, told Gothamist after the meeting. She said she was thinking about her many immigrant neighbors, some of whom are likely excluded from the federal stimulus package, and how to better include them in the virtual organizing process.
"If I’m feeling dread about rent, I know they are too,” she said. “The government is just not providing the help that most New Yorkers need right now.”
As the global pandemic pushes unemployment to record levels, a desperate and potent tenants movement is taking shape across New York City. A petition calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo to cancel rent for struggling tenants has more than 75,000 backers — including Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and NYC Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
But with the April rent deadline fast approaching, and still no word from the governor on the bipartisan state legislation, many of the city’s renters are taking matters into their own hands.
Maxwell Paparella, a freelance video editor in Crown Heights, said that most residents of his 32-unit Crown Heights building were planning on strategically withholding rent this month.
“We're hoping to use our landlord as a pressure point for them to then put pressure on the state,” Paparella said. “The ultimate target is Cuomo.”
Renters in Paparella’s building were already organized before the city effectively went into lockdown. They plan to deliver a letter to the landlord, Isaac Schwartz, informing him of the decision this week.
“We know he can absorb this hit, certainly better than tenants can. There’s not a lot of sympathy there,” Pararella said, noting that Schwartz owns nearly fifty buildings across the city and has been included on the Public Advocate’s “worst landlord” list. (Schwartz did not respond to Gothamist’s inquiries on Monday.)
In other cases, landlords may not be able to take the financial blow of an extended rent strike. According to State Senator Michael Gianaris, who sponsored the bipartisan rent suspension bill, those debts will ultimately be pushed to banks, which are more likely to benefit from a federal bailout than renters.
For the time being, homeowners and certain small landlords — though not multifamily landlords — can apply to put off their mortgages and take advantage of waivers on property taxes and water bills. Multifamily landlords may also apply for federal relief, provided they agree to certain restrictions. Renters, meanwhile, have been granted only an eviction moratorium, with no guarantee they won’t be obligated to pay later on.
Absent the robust rent relief seen in other countries, and with the federal help still at least weeks away for most Americans, housing experts predict that millions of tenants could soon be forced to choose between paying rent and other necessities. That calculus is particularly stark in New York City, where renters make up nearly two thirds of the population, and nearly half of all households are considered rent burdened.
“Everyone is in this situation and it's a hard one and they need to take a deep breath and figure out where they stand,” said Judith Goldiner, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society. “The first thing I would tell people is to make sure they have food to eat and the things they need for their families.”
She recommends that tenants anxious about paying rent this month reach out to their landlords first in hopes that they’ll agree to defer or temporarily reduce payments. “To the extent landlords are not willing to work something out, then that’s a situation for collective action,” she added.
Both advocates and housing attorneys caution that a decision to withhold rent as a building should not be taken lightly, and that tenants should first consult an attorney (see below). On Wednesday, Housing Justice for All and the Right to Counsel NYC will release a toolkit with best practices for organizing a rent strike.
“Rent strikes require a lot of trust and they invoke a lot of risk,” said Susana Blankley, a tenant organizer with Right To Counsel. “People have to choose based on their own analysis of risk.”
Ultimately though, housing experts say that many renters won’t have a choice in the matter. And without a major policy solution, eviction courts will be so jammed in three months that it could take months or even years for landlords to take action against delinquent tenants.
“It’s a very scary situation, but I’m also confident because I don’t see a path other than canceling rent,” said Cea Weaver, the campaign coordinator with Housing Justice For All. “The fact this is happening to everyone means you're not alone. When you’re not alone, you have power.”
Those interested in organizing their buildings should consult the Legal Aid Society (212-577-3300), Legal Services NYC (917-661-4500) or the Met Council on Housing (212-979-0611). Additionally, the Met Council on Housing encourages prospective strikers to text “Rent Strike” to 33339 (use “Huelga de Renta” for Spanish). The Housing Justice For All fact sheet on what to do on April 1st can be found here. Nothing in the above article should be construed as legal advice.
UPDATE: Asked about rent suspension on Monday afternoon, Governor Andrew Cuomo did not appear any closer to backing either state legislation or an executive order to suspend rent payments for impacted tenants. "Even the people to whom you pay the rent have to pay the rent," he said. "No evictions for non-payment of rent and then we’ll see where we are and we’ll see how long this goes on."
We've updated the story to make clear that most landlords are not eligible for bailouts under the governor's executive order.
