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One of the biggest crises we are in: property is still valued—by law, by policy, by power—far above people, exacerbated by every corner of dual pandemics of COVID & racism.
Evictions, poor wages & unsafe workplaces, police violence—all protecting property at expense of lives.
Evictions, poor wages & unsafe workplaces, police violence—all protecting property at expense of lives.
Property owners—in a pandemic—are fighting tooth & nail to preserve the right to evict those who have ppl staying w/them who aren’t listed on the lease. IN A PANDEMIC. When the safest action rn is to keep ppl housed, inside, & able to quarantine if need be.
Renting property is a business that's been stripped of almost all risk to owners by law. But it is also more than a business: it is control over one of most basic needs: shelter. That power comes w/great responsibility—to tenants & community. But still we see how profit is king.
It may seem long, but it is *incredible* to me that we can be faced w/this virus & medical science gets us a vaccine w/in a year. We only had to make sure everyone stayed safe & fed & housed for a year—that’s it. And we apparently cannot even commit to do it for half that time.
Most legislative sessions, I have to completely become a robot just to survive it. But this yr I admit, I’m breaking more than ever. I saw this pic this morning &…
The whimsy with which we treat the lives of those w/o power. It is the worst virus of all. https://twitter.com/emilyabenfer/status/1296769604824506370
The whimsy with which we treat the lives of those w/o power. It is the worst virus of all. https://twitter.com/emilyabenfer/status/1296769604824506370
And you see the magic trick here, right? Ppl are evicted, & where do they go if they even have somewhere to go: to stay w/someone else who is a tenant, themselves then becoming “ppl who are not on a lease,” making *that* person now evictable. https://twitter.com/awoo_/status/1296776852447559680
There are others, & there cld be even more, Virginia, if you reach out & advocate, but I want to thank Sen @Hashmi4Va, Sen @JennMcClellanVA, & Del @JoshuaCole for fighting to halt evictions in Va to keep ppl safe—to value ppl’s lives first, & then shape policy around that value.
Day after day I hear this “we must ensure landlords are made whole” from any losses.
That phrase: made whole.
What that tells me is: when we *don’t* use that term, that aspiration for tenants/community members, it’s bc we never saw them as a whole person in the first place.
That phrase: made whole.
What that tells me is: when we *don’t* use that term, that aspiration for tenants/community members, it’s bc we never saw them as a whole person in the first place.
When do economically deprived families get to be “made whole” from their losses.
When do communities ravaged by disinvestment get to be “made whole.”
When do underfunded schools get to be “made whole."
We are building policy backwards, & around the wrong people.
When do communities ravaged by disinvestment get to be “made whole.”
When do underfunded schools get to be “made whole."
We are building policy backwards, & around the wrong people.
And even then—to make schools “whole,” you have to make whole the communities they support.
Sen. @Hashmi4Va, in support of her eviction moratorium bill this week: “What good is a laptop if you have no place to plug it in?"
Sen. @Hashmi4Va, in support of her eviction moratorium bill this week: “What good is a laptop if you have no place to plug it in?"
I don’t often share personal life details here, but here I feel like I shld: I’m not just an advocate/lawyer in this; I’m a card-carrying member. Before I was a lawyer or knew how to get help, I was subjected to a “self-help” eviction. It was terrifying. I had $300 cash & no job.
I often say “there is no poetry in the law” & this is part of what I mean. In policy, imagination is dying. Ppl in power need the imagination to build policy around the need, not the status quo—How do we get ppl in power to have that imagination, to put themselves in that plight?
This is going to take a movement, & what’s been happening in the streets is inspiring, but it has to grow & it has to include ppl who *aren’t* at risk. I want to see property owners out there w/ #NOEVICTIONS signs. I want them flooding emails to legislators & testifying.
You know where our collective imagination stands rn? When someone puts forth a policy to protect families from becoming homeless, we say it’s an act of “political courage.” We call it COURAGE when ppl in power choose to help those in need.
We should call it a JOB DESCRIPTION.
We should call it a JOB DESCRIPTION.
I was told just this week by a legislator (on a different policy) that I was being “unrealistic” in my expectations.
My reply: It’s my job to be “unrealistic” in a reality like this.
My reply: It’s my job to be “unrealistic” in a reality like this.
