Organizing Resources to Cancel Rent & Evictions Under COVID-19

Los Angeles is in crisis — and not just a public health crisis, but a deep economic crisis that is deepening the housing affordability and homelessness crises we’ve already been facing. Many of us have always been one paycheck away from losing our housing, and we are now losing work and facing housing insecurity at levels we’ve never experienced before.

Unless more drastic action is taken at all levels of government, the coronavirus “recovery” portends more evictions and more subsequent losses of housing than the 2008-2009 recession. The tidal wave of displacement is coming, and we must organize to fight back!

We can ALL work with our friends, neighbors, and fellow tenants to leverage the power of numbers against landlords. We’re taking some key actions to support both housed and unhoused tenants through this COVID-19 crisis.

Take Action to Win Eviction Protections

DSA-LA has endorsed AB 1436, the COVID-19 Eviction Prevention and Housing Stability Act. This bill would protect renters from being evicted because of their inability to pay rent due to COVID-related loss of income. The goal is to keep millions of renters housed, especially Black and Brown tenants who have been disproportionately hit by COVID-19 and are more likely to be rent-burdened than any other community. While the bill does not address everything DSA-LA would like, it would give tenants and organizers a year to work on additional housing goals — buying us time to organize for bigger demands like rent cancellation, rent rollbacks, collective bargaining, and a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction.

Take action to win the bill!

Talk To Your Neighbors & Organize Your Building!

We’ve compiled some resources on how you can organize your fellow tenants and request a rent reduction or suspension, either on your own or with your organized building. 

We are working to push these resources out to our entire membership and beyond to lay the groundwork for potential rent strikes when it is necessary or strategic to do so. We encourage our members to also join their local tenants union when doing so, to connect your fight to the larger struggle. One key component of this work is our new Tenant Organizing Circle for members involved in other tenant organizations (including their own tenant associations in their buildings), and a new team of tenants’ rights first responders, who can connect other members with resources and guidance on their rights as tenants during COVID-19. If you want to be a part of either group, email [email protected].

Take the DSA-LA Housing Justice Survey

Are you or your neighbors struggling to pay rent next month? Is your landlord harassing you for paperwork? Looking to organize? Fill out this form and we’ll get in touch.