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!
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ANNA BIVENS endorsed
“Unemployment won't be distributed in time and will only cover half my bills ! Not to mention food and essentials !”
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Rene Schwartz endorsed
“Lower hours”
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Aisha Nasim endorsed
“I’m 17 live on my own and work at a restaurant cant go to work I don’t get any kind of check how am I supposed to pay rent?”
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Lynette endorsed
“Currently I'm having complications in my pregnancy and with low hours due to the virus it's become extremely difficult to pay my rent and other bills and since my paychecks have been cut short I was short on my rent and getting threatened to be evicted. I have a 2 year old and a baby on the way and I would have no where else to go if I get evicted”
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Sarah Lee endorsed
“I won't be able to pay rent. As an independent contractor I'm already struggling as is. No rent and utilities just makes sense. thank you.”
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Robert Antraccoli endorsed
“I am 1 of the millions on low fixed income. I wont be able to cover my rent next month”
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Maria King endorsed
“As a New York-based tenant, there are a myriad of reasons why a Rent Strike should be imposed. Aside from many subpar housing situations and fledgling maintenance efforts pre-COVID 19, to be forced to choose between affording necessities and liquidating accessible financial resources when unemployment and stimulus payments are grossly stalled is UNJUST. I have not been able to conduct business since the 17th of March... My landlord imposed a 10% rent increase that was effective April 1, 2020 amidst this situation– absolutely vile. Stand up for what is right!”
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Chalene Raymond endorsed
“The people who do not struggle with money need to help those that do! As much as people like to think this country is "pull yourself up by your bootstraps and work hard to be successful", it is NOT true. There are MILLIONS of HARDWORKING people that make FAR LESS than some who work VERY LITTLE. There are TOO many people that are DISADVANTAGED because of SYSTEMIC ISSUES that need to be dealt with NOW!”
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Larry Sutherland endorsed
“I have beek kicked out of my building from the covid-19 and given very little time to move all my equipment and inventory. I only have help from my wife and one employee that i cant even pay as of now this is B.S that the rich won't lend a hand in times like this... We need to be better and help others in these times! Not try to profit from it! Lets Get This Going!”
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Renata Rollins endorsed
“Times are hard and resources should not be extracted out of our communities and into the banking/property system especially during a global pandemic and likely global depression. Not in a world with billionaires, not in a world where Jeff Bezos increased his wealth by $24 billion during COVID-19 emergency alone. The rich will always take care of themselves. The rent strike is one step we can take to take care of each other.”
Campaign created!
Show your support for this campaign by endorsing it and sharing why!
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Diane thomas endorsed
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ANNA BIVENS endorsed
“Unemployment won't be distributed in time and will only cover half my bills ! Not to mention food and essentials !”
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Rene Schwartz endorsed
“Lower hours”
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Janie Davidson-Crutchfield endorsed
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Shanda Parker endorsed
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Ing. Jorge Armando Gutiérrez Padilla endorsed
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Amber Hartman endorsed
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Aisha Nasim endorsed
“I’m 17 live on my own and work at a restaurant cant go to work I don’t get any kind of check how am I supposed to pay rent?”
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chloe endorsed
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Leanne Koppi endorsed
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Lynette endorsed
“Currently I'm having complications in my pregnancy and with low hours due to the virus it's become extremely difficult to pay my rent and other bills and since my paychecks have been cut short I was short on my rent and getting threatened to be evicted. I have a 2 year old and a baby on the way and I would have no where else to go if I get evicted”
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Joyce Mejia endorsed
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Sarah Lee endorsed
“I won't be able to pay rent. As an independent contractor I'm already struggling as is. No rent and utilities just makes sense. thank you.”
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Susan F endorsed
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Brooke Yarbrough endorsed
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Chris Garcia endorsed
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Robert endorsed
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Robert Antraccoli endorsed
“I am 1 of the millions on low fixed income. I wont be able to cover my rent next month”
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Maria King endorsed
“As a New York-based tenant, there are a myriad of reasons why a Rent Strike should be imposed. Aside from many subpar housing situations and fledgling maintenance efforts pre-COVID 19, to be forced to choose between affording necessities and liquidating accessible financial resources when unemployment and stimulus payments are grossly stalled is UNJUST. I have not been able to conduct business since the 17th of March... My landlord imposed a 10% rent increase that was effective April 1, 2020 amidst this situation– absolutely vile. Stand up for what is right!”
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Gabriel Flores endorsed
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Chalene Raymond endorsed
“The people who do not struggle with money need to help those that do! As much as people like to think this country is "pull yourself up by your bootstraps and work hard to be successful", it is NOT true. There are MILLIONS of HARDWORKING people that make FAR LESS than some who work VERY LITTLE. There are TOO many people that are DISADVANTAGED because of SYSTEMIC ISSUES that need to be dealt with NOW!”
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Mariam Sheikh endorsed
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Miryam López endorsed
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Panagiotis endorsed
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Larry Sutherland endorsed
“I have beek kicked out of my building from the covid-19 and given very little time to move all my equipment and inventory. I only have help from my wife and one employee that i cant even pay as of now this is B.S that the rich won't lend a hand in times like this... We need to be better and help others in these times! Not try to profit from it! Lets Get This Going!”
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Ann Marie Webb endorsed
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Renata Rollins endorsed
“Times are hard and resources should not be extracted out of our communities and into the banking/property system especially during a global pandemic and likely global depression. Not in a world with billionaires, not in a world where Jeff Bezos increased his wealth by $24 billion during COVID-19 emergency alone. The rich will always take care of themselves. The rent strike is one step we can take to take care of each other.”
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Octavia gamble endorsed
“Because people deserve a chance not to be treated like dirt because they are in need of a helping hand”
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Silvia Sosa endorsed
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Rachel Melagrano endorsed
