To the Houston City Council,  Metro Council, and all Houston Metro area entities: 

We the undersigned residents are gripped by the COVID-19 crisis, with jobs sending people home, sick time limited or non-existent, and little to no rise in the minimum wage in comparison to the cost of living within our areas of work in the past thirty or so years. 

Houston and the surrounding metro areas are faced with an extreme housing crisis - what has been labeled a housing state of emergency. This misnomer implies there is a lack of available homes, when in fact thousands upon thousands of units stand empty in every building across our counties. Where apartments stand idle, mothers die outside. Where the elderly cannot find a place to sit, our city authorities turn a blind eye in order to promote private business interests. 

As we the undersigned believe, you are in fact held to the highest position of account to the people of Texas and are in fact our employees. You are failing us at every turn when you put private financial interest above the common good of all people. We believe it is our common good to create an area-wide rent freeze now, not later, not next month, but now. 

Without work, without sick days, many of us will not be able to afford our rents come April 1st. We will not be able to afford this rent retroactively. We will not have this money at some later date. We are hard-working people who barely have enough to pay one month’s rent at a time.

We demand therefore that all Houston metro area rents be frozen immediately until the COVID-19 crisis passes, until there are tests that show this is no longer a threat posed to all of our communities. 

Please know we the undersigned make this demand knowing you are to comply with the will of the people, not the will of private interests. If you should choose to ignore our demands we will organize openly and actively against attempts to profit off our unfair, unmitigated suffering, and surround your offices and homes, bringing our illest citizens to rest at your front doors until you have no choice but to join us, either as one of the endlessly ill, or as one of the proud leaders demanding the most basic of human dignities for the people of this area. 

With all the power of the people.