Month: April 2020

Governor DeWine has issued an order to protect evictions and foreclosures on commercial properties. Tenants have not received the same rights! It is time for him to hear and understand how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting people who are struggling to pay rent. The failure at the state level to protect tenants during this public health crisis will continue to force people into the trauma of homelessness! The Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition and the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless are working together to organize the State of Ohio toward tenant protections. People who are at-risk in their housing need to share their story. We need a statewide 90-day moratorium on residential rental evictions during this pandemic.

Here is a sample form letter to send as an email:

To: [STATE REPRESENTATIVE, STATE SENATOR]

From: [YOUR NAME, ADDRESS]

I am one of the Ohio tenants who is unable to pay my full rent this month because of [LOSS OF EMPLOYMENT, ILLNESS, OTHER (explain)] related to the COVID 19 pandemic. I have not yet received any financial assistance from the state or local government. I am at risk of facing eviction from my home.

I urge you to ask Governor DeWine to enact a statewide 90-day moratorium on residential evictions with additional tenant support to ensure that I will still have a right to the peaceful enjoyment of my rental home throughout this public health crisis and once I get back on my feet.

Necessary protections include:

• Require residential landlords to accept late and partial payments during the moratorium period.
• Prohibit landlords from charging late fees during the moratorium period.
• Encourage courts to hold informal meetings with tenants and landlords to seek mediated agreements before permitting landlords to file evictions after the moratorium is over.
• Direct local law enforcement to prevent landlords from taking the law into their own hands with “self-help evictions” such as turning off utilities, padlocking the premises, or seizing a tenant’s belongings.

Residential tenants like me deserve to be treated with the same consideration that the Governor has already provided to commercial (business) tenants in his Executive Order 2020-08D.

If you have any other questions about my situation, please feel free to contact me at PHONE or EMAIL.

Thanks for your timely intervention. The need is urgent.

SIGNATURE

cc: communitymanager@rhinohio.com

Send this as an email to the following elected officials:

Senator Rob Portman

Senator Sherrod Brown

Governor Mike DeWine

Ohio House of Representatives members

Ohio State Senators

 

Although we are currently unable to meet in person with newly established and actively engaged tenant groups, we must still continue building and sustaining momentum through this pandemic. The courts are on a pause, but at the end of COVID-19, the City’s housing crisis will look the same, if not worse, than it appeared before this public health emergency. Business will resume as usual.

This time is an opportunity for all organizers to transition their mobilization efforts onto digital platforms. It’s a time for us to leverage the knowledge we already have, and to learn new skills. At the Homeless Coalition, we are soon going to launch Outvote to mobilize support for our Affordable Housing Trust Fund ballot initiative. We are also collaborating with a team AmeriCorps community service members to design Facebook and GroupMe user tools that we will share with tenant groups. This crisis pushes all of us into unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory, but we have it within ourselves to emerge stronger and even more organized on the other side of it.

For more information about how to build and sustain community organizing efforts during this time of necessary social distance, check out the resource library below.

1. Organizing in the Time of Physical Distancing
2. Covid 19 Street Organising Unofficial Guide
3. Digital Organizing 101
4. The-Digital-Organizing-Handbook-By-ACRONYM