Beginning on April 1st, 2020, many Americans will be unable to pay their rent, mortgage, loans, or utility bills in the context of the pandemic and global recession. The president has so far spent $2.5 trillion in bailing out the stock market and large corporations, and nothing to bail out the working class.
Without a massive stimulus package, freeze on rent, utilities, and mortgage collection, millions of people will lose their jobs and homes. Unemployment could reach 30% according to some projections. We have to start organizing right now, turn our collective desperation to collective power, and force our government to enact a bailout for regular people, not Wall Street.
Our DemandsRent Strike 2020 started when a simple petition to freeze rent, utilities and mortgage payments has collected over 2 million signatures within 48 hours. The creators of the petition (Joshua Collins, and Rose Caucus) realized that this is a revolutionary moment and immediately passed it off to organizers who could build this into a movement that will be able to deliver a win for regular people.
We have put together a comprehensive set of immediate demands that we are calling the People’s Bailout. Our goal is to win these demands for the working class by building a mass movement. We hope to partner with local tenants unions, labor unions, immigrant groups, prison reform and abolition groups, and left and socialist elected officials who share our movement strategy and vision. Following are our initial set of of demands:
Freeze all rent, mortgage, utility payments or we will carry out a rent strike!
Freeze all student, medical, car and consumer debt and interest during the ongoing pandemic and recession. Cancel student debt!
Tax big business and the rich, not regular people, to pay for the crisis.
House all unsheltered people to protect their health and safety, and public health at-large.
Suspend all Farm Service Agency payments to ensure that we have an uninterrupted food supply.
Provide free mass testing and treatment! Authorize the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services to cover all out of pocket expenses so people can get tested and treated without worrying about going bankrupt.
Medicare for All! Immediately nationalize pharma, healthcare, medical instruments and all providers for an emergency response like Spain did to swiftly respond to the health crisis.
Give democratic powers to Committees of workers and scientists over the response to the crisis in essential industries – including healthcare, transportation, logistics, grocery.
Nationalize any industry threatening layoffs that hasn't been bailed out under democratic workers' control.
End the mass incarceration system & immediately release all immigrants from detention centers to stop the spread of COVID-19 between prisoners and guards.
Show your support for this campaign by endorsing it and sharing why!
-
Jessica Duval endorsed
“I have emailed UDR several times BEGGING them to do the right thing and at least reduce our rents 10% to 20% which would save the average person living here at 880 in Newport Beach an average of $200 a month. we pay for a luxury community in which we can’t use any of the amenities (rightfully so) and we are trapped in our little apartments so basically we’re paying to live in jail and they know that we all lost her job and they know how much money we will get from unemployment if we are lucky enough to do so and yet they are still demanding rents for when we used to make 50% - 100% more money. Basically as soon as we get our unemployment checks, over half of it will go to pay our rent and then somehow we have to make the rest last for her other necessities I don’t understand why the apartment communities get to be exempt from the hurt that everybody else is having to feel. This giant corporation that charges rent based on market value at time of lease signing creating arbitrary numbers that mean nothing and are not paying a mortgage - they could afford to lose 10% to 20% while we are losing all of our money. Their not at all empathetic response was, listen Jessica it’s not our fault that the coronavirus happened it hurts us all and we are not reducing rents please remember your rent is due on the first of the month thank you. they were kind enough to allow me to take my April rent and I will now need to pay $275 more per month until my lease ends next February I already had a hard time paying $1700 a month for my 400 square-foot studio and now I will have to come up with nearly $2000 a month which is more than half of my unemployment I will receive for a couple months and then who knows what will happen because the whole world is unemployed and we are all broke AF.”
-
Brandon Lopez endorsed
“I endorse Rent Strike 2020 because I’m these difficult times, there are too many people who cannot afford to pay rent.”
-
Bob Poogs endorsed
“We (THE PEOPLE) need a bailout, not the corporations!!! If we cannot work we cannot pay... its simple! Cancel student debt, we need universal healthcare and education in this country...United we stand against our tyrannical government!”
-
Cole Mateo endorsed
“Small and large Businesses have been given money to be able to pay their Rent, can request deferments from mortgage companies, but the American people don’t have that luxury and are still forced to pay rent all while not being able to work. People are becoming late on their bills and landlords are and will not be the most understanding. Bills keep racking up and the world is already on its way to a recession.”
-
Chelsea Marie Westbrook endorsed
“I endorse Rent Strike because I have been laid off from my teaching job. We need this.”
-
PoppyCK endorsed
“I endorse #RentStrike #CancelRent”
-
Meghan LeMoult endorsed
“Life is hard enough when having to pay all of your bills and rent on time.. NOW with not being able to work it feels impossible! We should all come together during this pandemic!”
-
Jennifer Ann Miller endorsed
“I have been out of work for 3 weeks, with no answer from unemployment to date. We need a break in order to get through this crisis.”
-
Tyronzia Johnson endorsed
“Paying rent is extremely difficult with only one income but now no income. The stimulus checks were nice but doesn't cover all rent, power, gas, trash is still being picked up, water and groceries”
-
Casey Dominguez endorsed
“Businesses are getting a loan from the government. The government is saying if they pay wages and rent with the loan, then it will be forgiven. Meanwhile, individual workers aren't being given the same luxury. We are given an extra $600 a week on unemployment that will take 2 months to process and even longer to get to our accounts. It's time for the many to overcome the few.”
Campaign created!
Show your support for this campaign by endorsing it and sharing why!
-
Linda Magotch endorsed
-
Julie Liggett endorsed
-
Alpha Omega Trading Company endorsed
-
Jessica Duval endorsed
“I have emailed UDR several times BEGGING them to do the right thing and at least reduce our rents 10% to 20% which would save the average person living here at 880 in Newport Beach an average of $200 a month. we pay for a luxury community in which we can’t use any of the amenities (rightfully so) and we are trapped in our little apartments so basically we’re paying to live in jail and they know that we all lost her job and they know how much money we will get from unemployment if we are lucky enough to do so and yet they are still demanding rents for when we used to make 50% - 100% more money. Basically as soon as we get our unemployment checks, over half of it will go to pay our rent and then somehow we have to make the rest last for her other necessities I don’t understand why the apartment communities get to be exempt from the hurt that everybody else is having to feel. This giant corporation that charges rent based on market value at time of lease signing creating arbitrary numbers that mean nothing and are not paying a mortgage - they could afford to lose 10% to 20% while we are losing all of our money. Their not at all empathetic response was, listen Jessica it’s not our fault that the coronavirus happened it hurts us all and we are not reducing rents please remember your rent is due on the first of the month thank you. they were kind enough to allow me to take my April rent and I will now need to pay $275 more per month until my lease ends next February I already had a hard time paying $1700 a month for my 400 square-foot studio and now I will have to come up with nearly $2000 a month which is more than half of my unemployment I will receive for a couple months and then who knows what will happen because the whole world is unemployed and we are all broke AF.”
-
Brandon Lopez endorsed
“I endorse Rent Strike 2020 because I’m these difficult times, there are too many people who cannot afford to pay rent.”
-
Heather Theiss endorsed
-
Jared Josephs endorsed
-
A-Smooth endorsed
-
Bob Poogs endorsed
“We (THE PEOPLE) need a bailout, not the corporations!!! If we cannot work we cannot pay... its simple! Cancel student debt, we need universal healthcare and education in this country...United we stand against our tyrannical government!”
-
Emily Craig endorsed
-
Paul McDonald II endorsed
-
Rebecca goodwin endorsed
-
Doren Sorell endorsed
-
Cole Mateo endorsed
“Small and large Businesses have been given money to be able to pay their Rent, can request deferments from mortgage companies, but the American people don’t have that luxury and are still forced to pay rent all while not being able to work. People are becoming late on their bills and landlords are and will not be the most understanding. Bills keep racking up and the world is already on its way to a recession.”
-
Chelsea Marie Westbrook endorsed
“I endorse Rent Strike because I have been laid off from my teaching job. We need this.”
-
PoppyCK endorsed
“I endorse #RentStrike #CancelRent”
-
Meghan LeMoult endorsed
“Life is hard enough when having to pay all of your bills and rent on time.. NOW with not being able to work it feels impossible! We should all come together during this pandemic!”
-
Jennifer Ann Miller endorsed
“I have been out of work for 3 weeks, with no answer from unemployment to date. We need a break in order to get through this crisis.”
-
Kimberly Ann Studdard endorsed
-
Barbara Faye Green endorsed
-
Tyronzia Johnson endorsed
“Paying rent is extremely difficult with only one income but now no income. The stimulus checks were nice but doesn't cover all rent, power, gas, trash is still being picked up, water and groceries”
-
Scott Morris endorsed
-
Emre Mercanoglu endorsed
-
Casey Dominguez endorsed
“Businesses are getting a loan from the government. The government is saying if they pay wages and rent with the loan, then it will be forgiven. Meanwhile, individual workers aren't being given the same luxury. We are given an extra $600 a week on unemployment that will take 2 months to process and even longer to get to our accounts. It's time for the many to overcome the few.”
-
Crystal C endorsed
-
Jeffrey Clapper endorsed
“My wife and I live paycheck to paycheck. Then you have all the bills going up. The government said "no price gouging" however that has happened immediately after the shutdown. Groceries went way up with no sales on anything. It was going to be our year to get straight. Now this....... one step forward and 2 back' thats before you get kicked down. Im not a Socialist. Im a hard working construction worker and now work has stopped. No bills for a couple months would help greatly.”
-
Dana endorsed
-
Adrienne Harmston endorsed
-
jeffery carmichael endorsed
-
Daniel Satizabal endorsed
