We are asking residents to sign up to join us Monday through Wednesday next week, to make 3 calls per day to Common Council members. They have the power to make this happen. Let’s show them how much the 70% of Ithacans who rent need financial and housing security during this time of growing mass unemployment.
Our new reality of COVID-19 forces Ithaca’s most vulnerable community members to face a terrifying predicament: with record numbers facing job losses, incoming money is far off and uncertain — forcing us to pick and choose which basic needs we spend what’s left on. Will our last paycheck go to food and supplies, or shelter? Even without rent looming on the first, many already struggle to buy groceries and fill prescriptions. The moratorium on evictions in New York State was a great first step — but for many of us, the money to pay missed rent will not exist once the moratorium is lifted. Hundreds to thousands of Ithacans will face eviction.
Every day, as the crisis becomes more dire, it becomes clearer that we must act fast. Mayor Svante Myrick and the Ithaca Common Council have the power to alleviate this burden by expanding the Mayor’s emergency powers and subsequently freezing rents.
The next step to escalate the Ithaca Rent Freeze campaign is to flood the phone lines of the Mayor and Common Council members to demand they institute a Rent Freeze when they meet on Wednesday, April 1 — forgiving residential and commercial rents for however long this crisis lasts.