NOTE: LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION NEEDS TO BE UPDATED. ALL OTHER INFORMATION IS STILL GOOD [5.28.2020]! COVID-19 Rent Strike Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Table of Contents A. About the CHTU’s demands/campaign B. About the political situation (state, city, federal) C. About the current relief programs for landlords and tenants D. About organizing your building E. About communicating with the landlord F. About risks Important Links ● Hello Neighbor letter ● Order your rent registration history ● Housing Justice for All - Rent Strike Toolkit ● Your Rights Under the New Rent Law [STABILIZED APARTMENTS] ● Your Rights Under the New Rent Law [NON-STABILIZED APARTMENTS] 1 S ection A: About the CHTU’s demands/campaign ● What are we asking for? ○ We are asking New York State (Gov. Cuomo and the legislature): ​ ■ Cancel all rents and utilities for the duration of the crisis - for ALL New ​ Yorkers; ■ Guarantee lease renewals for all tenants; ​ ■ Ensure that tenants do not face retaliation for non-payment of rent during ​ the crisis; ■ Meet all striking tenant associations’ demands for repairs, justice, and ​ tenant power in their own buildings; ■ Lastly, we demand that all New Yorkers are housed—not by bailing out ​ ​ the real estate industry, but rather by achieving public ownership and tenant control of housing. ○ We are asking landlords: to not charge their tenants rent at all. ​ ○ We are asking the Rent Guidelines Board: to freeze the rent of rent stabilized ​ apartments ○ We are asking you: to stand in solidarity with your neighbors in striking for a ​ cancellation of rent. ● Do you think we’ll win? ○ Yes! This fight is going to be hard, but together we can win. ○ The tenant movement has already gotten some wins to build on in the COVID-19 response: ■ The closing of housing courts ■ At least 3 month “eviction moratorium” (more info in section C) ​ ​ ■ Partial extension of the “eviction moratorium” to at least August 20 ■ Preliminary RGB vote for 0% increase on rent-stabilized leases renewing this year ■ More than 30 buildings have joined the CHTU as part of this effort ■ 10,000 tenants across the state are striking on May Day, May 1st ○ But we are nowhere near satisfied with our wins from the city, state, or local governments so far – they are merely signs that the campaign is working – and we need to keep our end goals in focus! Crown Heights Tenant Union - Rent Strike FAQ May 11, 2020 2 S ection B: About the political situation (will dispel idea that current bills will save us) ​ ​ ​ ● Isn’t the NY State legislature trying to pass some bills to help out tenants? ○ Yes, they have introduced some bad bills, which are linked below. ■ NY State Assembly bill 10224A ■ NY State Senate bill S8125A ■ S8139 (Gianaris - seems to be a follow up on S8125A) ​ ■ S8140 (Kavanaugh - emergency vouchers for rental assistance) ​ ○ The CHTU (and almost all tenant groups) don’t believe these bills are good enough. ● What about this bill (S8125a) proposing to suspend the rent for three months? ○ This bill puts the burden of proof on tenants to prove they can’t pay rent. This is a bureaucratic obstacle for tenants who need relief now. This will be impossible for many undocumented workers, gig workers, and hundreds of thousands more fellow-tenants. We demand the universal cancellation of rent. ○ This bill only applies to those that can’t pay meaning that people striking in solidarity would not be covered. ● When do we think that these bills will get passed? ○ We don’t know. Definitely not by May 1st and probably not at all. ○ Right now Cuomo and the leaders of the state legislature have calculated that they can get away with not doing anything for renters, so they are not working to get the bills passed. ○ The statewide coalition believes that the Rent Strikes will shake things up, and change Cuomo and the legislature’s calculations: the landlords and then the banks will start screaming, and then Cuomo will realize that the only way he can still appear to be in control is if he gives the executive order to suspend rent. ○ The Housing Justice for All Coalition is asking Governor Cuomo to issue an executive order because we believe the legislature will not act. ● What if my lease is supposed to expire during this state of emergency? ○ In the Gianaris bill (S8125a), any tenants who can prove they have lost income ​ would have the right to a lease renewal with zero rent increase. ○ We demand that landlords must give all tenants a new lease with absolutely ​ ​ zero rent increase. ○ In fact, one of the other policy changes we’ve been fighting for is for Just Cause Eviction, see below. ● What is “just cause” or “good cause” eviction? ○ This is a proposed state law we've been fighting for since way before COVID that requires landlords to offer lease renewals to ALL tenants (i.e. giving non-stabilized tenants some of the protection that stabilized tenants have). Crown Heights Tenant Union - Rent Strike FAQ May 11, 2020 3 ○ This would also give non-stabilized tenants the ability to take your landlord to court if the renewal lease had an “unconscionable” increase (formula based on CPI, about 3% in practice). ● What are the mayor and the City Council doing in all this? ○ They don’t have the power to cancel rent, and their terms don’t end until next year, so they have been out of the picture for the most part. ○ City Council has a bill to prolong the eviction moratorium, but it assumes that ​ ​ tenants will pay back all the back rent once the crisis is over. This again leads to landlords shouldering 0% of the pain inflicted by this crisis, and tenants, many of whom have lost all income, taking on 100% of the burden. (Note: the bill was introduced by our local council member Cumbo, who has a bad track record with CHTU demands, and council speaker Corey Johnson, who used to work in real estate). ○ The mayor called for a rent freeze (i.e. no new increases for stabilized tenants) from the Rent Guidelines Board. But the Board still plans to allow a 2.5% increase on 1-year leases, 3.5% on 2-year leases, which would be the highest increases yet of the de Blasio era. We must fight to stop this, and demand a rent rollback to lower rents for rent-stabilized tenants at the Rent Guidelines Board ​ ​ this year. In fact, some tenant organizations are demanding the RGB not meet at all this year, ensuring 0% increases for rent-stabilized tenants, but some have argued it would be “illegal” to cancel Rent Guidelines Board hearings. ○ UPDATE (May 8): The RGB’s preliminary vote is for 0% for 1-year leases and ​ ​ ​ the 1st year of 2-year leases, then 1% in the 2nd year! This is a win for us, even though we have long pushed for a rollback – They only voted for this rent freeze (0% increase) after the May 1 rent strikes made it clear that tenants are unable to afford the rent as it is. ● Can Congress do anything? ○ Ilhan Omar has introduced a House bill (H.R.6515) that would cancel rent and ​ ​ mortgage payments. This one appears to be universal (i.e. wouldn’t require proof of lost income), which is a big improvement over the bills in Albany. ○ However, even if enough Democrats signed on in the House (not a sure bet at all), it would then go to the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans; they call Mitch McConnell the Grim Reaper because the Senate is where good bills go to die. ○ We can point to the House bill as a better policy platform, but we need to come together as tenants to strike in order to attain what we’re demanding. ● What about the stimulus checks? Will unemployment benefits undercut our demands? ○ Unemployment and bailout and stimulus checks are woefully insufficient. Unemployment will run out in 6 months, but we don’t know when the COVID crisis will end. Many CHTU members who have filed for unemployment have not been able to receive their checks. Crown Heights Tenant Union - Rent Strike FAQ May 11, 2020 4 ○ Many people, especially the undocumented, have been left out of the federal bailout bills so far. In fact, undocumented immigrants are barred from receiving the stimulus check, as are U.S. citizens who file taxes jointly with a non-citizen. This means that if one partner is an immigrant, the entire household (including children) is excluded. ○ Governor Cuomo has refused to create a relief fund for undocumented immigrants. We must stand with our neighbors and demand a complete cancellation of rent now. ○ These stimulus checks and unemployment benefits need to go towards people paying for food and health care. These should not be subsidies that we have to immediately hand over to landlords. Crown Heights Tenant Union - Rent Strike FAQ May 11, 2020 5 S ection C: About the current relief programs for landlords and tenants ● What is the eviction moratorium? ○ Housing courts are shuttered indefinitely, except for tenant emergencies, like if your landlord illegally locks you out, or for emergency repairs. ○ The eviction moratorium in NY state is for at least 90 days (March 20–June 20). See also this eviction moratorium FAQ. ​ ​ ■ If you have an eviction case in process from before the moratorium, the entire case is paused until at least June 20, 2020. As the crisis goes on, and as rent strikes and nonpayment continue, Cuomo may choose to extend it. ■ If you are worried about your landlord starting an eviction process, or if they have threatened to immediately bring a case against you, this is a lie.