As everyone is in lockdown and the worldwide COVID-19 situation continues to worsen, people are stressed and students are some of the hardest hit individuals. In the city of Kingston, thousands of students have signed lease agreements for the May 2020 - April 2021 period and many of these students finance their rent payment independently. Due to quarantine, majority of students have either lost jobs, lost direct income or had summer jobs lined up to pay rent that were cancelled. Many students don't qualify for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit either so they are stuck with no money and are being held responsible to pay rent for a property that most students aren't even living at during this time. Based on the opinions of various medical professionals, government officials and reputable sources like the Harvard Review, it is highly unlikely students will be returning to campus come September.

It is time to take action! Students can't afford their rent and there are absolutely no regulations in place to protect them from their landlords during this time of crisis. Let's get this to the attention of Mayor Paterson so the City of Kingston can pass a by-law that can let us students defer rent payments until it's safe for us to come back to campus.