Renters rally for rent forgiveness in Boyle Heights
On Friday night renters and advocates rallied in Boyle Heights asking for help as many tenants continue to recover from the financial damage caused by the pandemic.
"Our major concern is what we're calling a tsunami of evictions coming to, not just the city of Los Angeles, but across the state of California," said advocate Kenia Alcocer.
Tenants' rights advocates are calling on officials to reopen California's rental relief program which closed to new applicants Thursday night. While the state did extend the eviction moratorium for three more months for those that filed before the deadline, advocates said that the lagging payment system may cause many to miss their payments and onto the streets.
"The message is very clear. If the state cannot reopen this program — and this program has been a failure — then they really need to move toward stopping all evictions in the state of California and forgiving everybody's debt," said
According to UCLA's Institute on Inequality and Democracy, more than 500,000 residents in L.A. County are behind on their March rent.
Many in the region have struggled to find any work at the onset of the pandemic and struggled to scrape enough for rent.
"I wasn't able to get a job," said renter Annakaren Alcocer. "I couldn't pay my rent."
While Alcocer was able to find work eventually, her financial woes continued.
"I actually made $11,000 that year," she said. "If I would have paid my rent with the little income that I had, I would still have been $1000 short. I wouldn't have been able to pay for my food or take care of my nephew that I have legal guardianship of."
However, landlords have struggled through the pandemic too with the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles claiming many, about 80%, are just small property owners.
"It's not the responsibility of private property owners to provide welfare to citizens," said the association's executive director Daniel Yukelson. "There's no reason for service providers and people who own rental housing to have to provide their services for free. It was the only industry attacked by the government in that matter."
