She fixed the garbage disposal, turned the garage into a classroom for her 11- and 8-year-old daughters and harvested squash and sweet potatoes from a vegetable garden she planted.
Her homesteading, part of an organized effort by tenant activists in March, was illegal, but it worked. The L.A. Housing Authority this fall granted occupancy rights to the family of Escudero and others who had seized numerous homes that the state acquired as part of now-abandoned plans to extend the 710 Freeway.
“I feel like it was the best decision of my life,” said Escudero, 41, who works as a caregiver for seniors. “Everyone deserves this.”
GOING TO THE SOURCE: Crown Heights Tenant Union and other NYC housing organizations members march on December 11 from the Brooklyn Housing Court to the law offices of Balsamo, Rosenblatt & Hall, a law firm that specializes in evicting tenants.Photo: Sue Brisk.
Tenant organizers in Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Missouri, Illinois & California speak out.
The United States could see a Hurricane Katrina of evictions next month, as the federal Center for Disease Control’s limited moratorium on evictions and two programs expanding unemployment benefits are scheduled to expire by Dec. 31.
In late September, the National Council of State Housing Agencies projected that by January 2021, up to 8.4 million renter households containing more than 20 million people could have eviction cases filed against them. It estimated that would include more than 1 million people in California, 860,000 in Tex-as, and 730,000 in New York.
Families struggling to pay rent are pleading for rent relief. Author: Abbie Alford (Reporter) Updated: 11:17 PM PST December 16, 2020
SAN DIEGO COUNTY, California There are pleas from renters who said they could lose everything if the current eviction moratorium expires.
Californians owe an estimated $1.7 billion in back rent and still find themselves unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
State lawmakers are hoping to extend the moratorium while Gov. Gavin Newsom looks to the federal government for help.
The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) joined several struggling tenants from across the state Wednesday in a caravan to lawmaker’s neighborhoods including, Senator Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) in Grant Hill.
Cancel the Rent: A Rising National Rent Strike Movement Gains Momentum
Newly elected Oakland City Council member Carroll Fife speaks to a rally in Oakland, California, calling for cancelling rents. Aja, the daughter of Dominique Walker, stands beside her.
David Bacon
Rent strikes have spread across the country with the spread of the coronavirus. In the pandemic’s first months, 400 New York City families stopped paying rent in buildings with over 1,500 rental units. In May, rent strikes involving 200,000 tenants spread to Philadelphia and elsewhere. Washington, D.C., in September saw tenant unions spring up in strikes at the Tivoli Gardens Apartments and the Woodner, as well as Southern Towers in nearby Alexandria.
Pessimistic Californians + Group calls for progressive Senate pick + Unemployment woes [The Sacramento Bee]
Dec. 14 Good morning, and happy Monday.
CHILDREN WILL BE WORSE OFF, CALIFORNIANS BELIEVE
Californians are pessimistic about their children’s financial prospects, according to a new survey from the Public Policy Institute of California.
More than six in ten Californians, 63%, believe that when today’s children grow up they will be financially worse off than their parents, while just over a third, 35%, believe children will be better off.
That outlook holds true across race and ethnicity, with 76% of whites, 67% of Asian Americans, 62% of African Americans and 47% of Latinos believing children will be worse off. It also holds across income groups.