1,323 8 minutes read Chicago. Liberation photo.
From Tampa Bay, Florida, to Portland, Oregon, from Los Angeles to Boston, people took to the streets Jan.30-Feb 1. They organized car caravans, speakouts and dropped banners demanding that the government immediately cancel the rents and mortgages, house the homeless and stop evictions.
Actions took place in 30 cities as national and local eviction moratoriums have only paused millions of evictions, and a third of the population can’t pay their bills and are unable to catch up with the rent. An eviction crisis looms that will hit oppressed communities, already especially affected by the pandemic, the hardest. Meanwhile, big landlords are abusing loopholes and filing eviction lawsuits against families regardless of the moratoriums.
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Crispin Rosenkranz, 50, in front of his Northeast Portland home, Dec. 14, 2020, said his landlord offered him $500 to voluntarily move out of his home in Northeast Portland in August. He rejected the offer and claims his landlord has since resorted to a harassment campaign to get him to leave the property since she can not issue an eviction during the moratorium.
During the statewide eviction moratorium, landlords cannot evict a tenant for not paying rent. Some tenant advocates say this has resulted in increased reports of tenant harassment.
It has become increasingly clear to Crispin Rosenkranz that he is no longer a welcomed tenant in his pale yellow Northeast Portland rental.