Housing Justice during COVID and beyond
The severity of the public health and economic crisis we face right now requires a solution that works for all of us. Reclaim Philadelphia demands a rent and mortgage cancellation today, and a Homes Guarantee for Philadelphia tomorrow!
Everyone should have a safe, accessible, sustainable and permanently affordable home. Right now, our city is far from delivering on that promise.
This crisis will hit our most vulnerable populations the hardest. Communities of color are already disproportionately impacted by our economic system. This pandemic makes clear how dangerous it is to treat people and the homes we live in as commodities. Regardless of income and employment status, every person needs a home to get well or stay well.
This crisis illuminates the need for a robust public sector that can guarantee housing as a human right. And that's why Reclaim Philadelphia is calling on you to join our fight for immediate federal, state and local action.
We demand immediate action to zero out rent and mortgage payments nationwide.
We demand immediate action to provide homes and expanded services for people experiencing homelessness.
We demand immediate action to stop evictions and seal eviction records.
We demand a just, green recovery and post-pandemic transition for renters, homeowners and public housing residents that includes rent control.
To win this we need you to call your congressional representative TODAY to demand a federal rent and mortgage cancellation, and sign our COVID-19 Housing Demands petition.
RENT CANCELLATION
Before the pandemic hit, 25% of Philadelphia residents were living below the poverty line and the city’s unemployment rate was one of the highest in the nation. For those of us living paycheck-to-paycheck, any loss of income could result in eviction or foreclosure. We also face detrimental loss of income if we become ill or need to care for sick family members. The tremendous economic instability caused by COVID-19 will result in our community facing displacement or the threat of homelessness. We must act immediately.
Rent and mortgage cancellation addresses the scale and depth of the coronavirus housing crisis. The Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act (H.R. 6515) introduced by Rep. Ilhan Omar would ensure that, for the duration of the crisis, there would be no rent obligation, no late fees, no debts. In addition, the legislation would suspend mortgage payments and ensure relief for property owners, conditioned on critical tenant protections.
This legislation was drafted by people who are deeply impacted by housing insecurity, and reviewed by Reclaim Philadelphia’s housing team and housing justice partner organizations in the city as it was drafted. The solutions we propose are also informed by and meant to prevent disastrous real estate speculation, like what we saw post-2008. This policy is designed to bring necessary relief to renters and property owners in the midst of a crisis, and it lays the groundwork for the longer-term Homes Guarantee we need.
We urge Congress to use The Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act as the model for negotiating an immediate solution, and we urge elected leaders of all levels to use this legislation as a model for what just recovery can look like.
HOMES AND EXPANDED SERVICES
To keep our communities safe and to minimize the impact of this outbreak, we must provide homes, emergency shelters, expanded services, and reliable information to those of us experiencing homelessness. This public health emergency requires a commitment to provide a home for everyone who needs one. Those of us experiencing homelessness have higher rates of underlying medical conditions than the general population, leaving us especially vulnerable to catastrophic health outcomes or death from COVID-19. This is compounded by the challenge of sharing timely and accurate public health information. If official guidance compels the public to “stay home” to contain the spread of COVID-19, we must create that possibility for people experiencing homelessness.
We call upon our city officials to prioritize these issues immediately. Those of us who are housing insecure or experiencing homelessness are at high risk of being exposed to COVID-19 due to limited access to the recommended preventative measures like sheltering in place, handwashing, wearing cloth masks, and avoiding populated areas. Public health experts agree that safe, stable housing is critical for recovering from illness and preventing the virus from spreading. We commend the city for putting a stay on evictions to minimize new cases of homelessness and for prioritizing testing for individuals living in group quarters, like shelters. The move to secure the 150-room quarantine site at the Holiday Inn Express in Center City gives those with limited housing options who are sick with COVID-19 a safe place to recover. But we need to do much more.
STOP EVICTIONS AND DISCRIMINATION
We demand an extension to the moratorium on evictions to last beyond the end of this pandemic. Many thousands of us already owe back rent and will only continue to struggle to pay it. Staying evictions will allow us more time to settle our debts without losing our homes. Law enforcement must be blocked from carrying out any evictions. Many landlords do not adhere to legal processes when evicting tenants. This behavior is even more cruel during times like these, and we must do everything we can to stop this.
We already suffer from an eviction crisis in Pennsylvania. Every year 86,000 eviction cases are filed in Pennsylvania courts, and every tenant who is taken to court is left with a public eviction record regardless of the outcome. This is an injustice that creates a systemic excuse for discrimination. Studies show that more than 90% of landlords refuse to rent to tenants who have had evictions filed against them in court. And because of the economic disaster we are facing, if we do not act to seal evictions hundreds of thousands of us could end up with eviction records and be barred from accessing safe and affordable housing. We must seal all eviction proceedings, which would keep evictions off our records and reduce systemic discrimination, until this crisis is over.
We also demand our state legislators support Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler’s bill, HB2382, which would automatically seal most evictions and set us on a path towards the Renter’s Bill of Rights we need.
A JUST, GREEN RECOVERY AND TRANSITION
Reclaim Philadelphia has participated in developing & supports the recovery guidance outlined in the Philly People’s Bailout and the Homes Guarantee Recovery Demands. Our Housing Task Force has also outlined the following policy guidance for a smart, just and safe response from City Hall.
We need the following put into action to address the urgent needs for tenants and homeowners.
Rent freeze and rent control: Our post-crisis recovery can’t be an era of displacement of the many for the profit of the few. We must freeze rents from the start of this crisis for one year as an immediate response. Beyond this, we must enact rent control for Philadelphia. In the places where it exists, rent control has proven to protect millions of families against sudden rent hikes and displacement while simultaneously proving to be economically effective. Without combatting displacement with rent control, we won’t be able to afford to live in the green, universally sustainable city we’re fighting for.
Eviction and foreclosure moratorium: The City has already put a temporary stay on eviction proceedings, including eviction filings, court hearings, and executions of eviction judgments. The City has also paused declarations of foreclosure and sales of foreclosed properties. This stay should be extended to those whose evictions were scheduled prior to the current state of emergency. Eviction prevention must also protect commercial businesses. It is imperative that the moratorium be extended to last the duration of the declared state of emergency and a defined recovery period.
PHA eviction moratorium and rent holiday: PHA should suspend evictions and notices of termination for the duration of the crisis. PHA should also consider action like a rent holiday or targeted programs that will have maximum individual impact.
Cash assistance: The City should launch an emergency relief fund to provide immediate cash assistance to all Philadelphians. Many families are forced to decide between buying food and paying their rent/mortgage as they’ve lost income. Offering cash assistance will supplement other measures and remove some of the burden people are facing. This fund must launch immediately, and should be accessible to all and be free of means-testing and other barriers to entry, such as lengthy paperwork or application fees.
We need the following put into action to address the urgent needs for those of us experiencing homelessness.
Immediately end forced encampment closures. We remind the city that this type of action is not legal without offering a safe housing alternative (see Boise v. Martin), nor is it in line with CDC guidelines which state “Unless individual housing units are available, do not clear encampments during community spread of COVID-19. Clearing encampments can cause people to disperse throughout the community and break connections with service providers. This increases the potential for infectious disease spread.”
Direct emergency funds to hotel vouchers so residents with underlying health risks experiencing homelessness do not need to remain at risk of being infected at group shelters. These hotel vouchers should also be accessible to residents experiencing intimate partner violence, or violence based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
Use public land to set up sanctioned camping areas near high resource areas. This type of alternative site complete with individual tents or other temporary shelter (perhaps provided by FEMA), bathrooms, and sanitations stations will help the City communicate with and provide care to the small subset of people experiencing homelessness that are unlikely to access shelter within the existing Continuum of Care. HUD offers clear guidelines on how to serve existing unsheltered encampments during the COVID-19 pandemic and these could be adapted for a purpose built outdoor campground. Such a site could provide an alternative to existing shelters, prevent oral-fecal transmission of Covid-19 by providing bathrooms to the unsheltered, and help outreach workers reduce risk to themselves and their clients. These sites should have accessibility features. Relocation to such a site should be voluntary and no one should be forced to stay.
Provide alternatives to group shelters: The Infectious Disease Control Guidelines (2016) created by the Philadelphia Office of Homeless Services include plans for a potential influenza epidemic and recommend screening all residents entering a shelter for symptoms and advise that high-risk individuals (including children under 6 months of age, persons over 50 years of age, and immunosuppressed persons) be provided an alternative to group shelters if there is known community spread. This plan must absolutely be implemented for the current crisis.
Provide shelters with the resources to follow CDC guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus. This includes spacing out shelter beds for all residents and advises sleeping in separate rooms when possible. For further guidelines see here.
Expand shelter capacity to eliminate waitlists for emergency shelter in a manner that complies with infection control guidelines. Families and individuals waiting for shelter are often “doubled up” with family and friends, frequently “couchsurfing” from house to house. This practice is stressful and crowded in the best of times and during a pandemic is simply dangerous for those individuals and our community as a whole.
Extend daytime hours for shelters so those experiencing homelessness have a safe place to remain during the day that includes access to food, handwashing, and bathrooms.
Expand existing medical respite care programs and medical housing to keep shelter residents who are not showing symptoms for COVID-19, but who are chronically or acutely ill, out of the hospitals where they may be exposed. This will also help hospitals discharge patients who are homeless faster as their discharge will not be delayed by lack of a safe place to recover. This will free up valuable hospital beds for COVID-19 patients.
Seek out additional safe quarantine sites in collaboration with health providers, stakeholders, and groups that serve the homeless population. Continue to make quarantine sites accessible for all. Universal quarantine sites for those who are ill and experiencing homelessness along with ill health care providers and other essential workers who cannot expose their families, is a good practice. We encourage the City to replicate their existing plan in order to ensure equitable treatment in quarantine for all Philadelphians.
Notes on implementation for these programs:
Inform the public: Information regarding the above policies and programs must be communicated to all Philadelphians.
Accessible for all: All of the programs must be made available to Philadelphians regardless of immigration status, criminal legal status, or accessibility needs.
Collect disaggregated data by race, ethnicity, income, and disability during the pandemic so emergency relief efforts and recovery efforts can be targeted to populations disproportionately impacted.
To join Reclaim Philadelphia’s Housing Justice Taskforce and receive updates on actions and meetings, sign up here!