Mayor Bowser and DC Council: Protect DC Residents. Prevent an Eviction Crisis.

Mayor Muriel Bowser & Members of the DC Council

Thousands of DC families are at risk of losing their homes in the coming months because the pandemic took away their jobs and ability to pay rent or mortgage. Our leaders have done virtually nothing to stop this wave of evictions and foreclosures after the pandemic is over. We can’t let that happen.

It would be a moral and policy failure if even one DC family lost their home because their job disappeared in the pandemic. A crush of evictions would be especially devastating to Black and brown communities and would make our city’s pandemic recovery even longer.

The Mayor and Council are acting as if they don’t see this coming, when it is staring us in the face. We demand that the Mayor and Council take action now to stop residents from losing their homes.

The only way to stop evictions is to ban them. That is the outcome we want and that is the path we should take.

To: Mayor Muriel Bowser & Members of the DC Council
From: [Your Name]

The District has not done enough to protect renters and homeowners in the pandemic. Legislation passed this spring puts a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures and prohibited landlords from raising rents -- but only for now.

These policies do nothing to stop evictions, foreclosures from happening after the pandemic emergency is over, when landlords will have the right to demand back rent. Even if residents get their jobs back, many will not have the money to pay rent owed for the pandemic period. The Council passed legislation requiring landlords to create payment plans with tenants, but it doesn’t protect tenants who become behind on their plan, as many inevitably will.

The only way to stop evictions is to ban them. A permanent moratorium covering the months of the pandemic would empower tenants to negotiate with landlords to forgive some or all of their rent for the months when they had little or no income.

The District should also help landlords in a targeted way in combination with an eviction moratorium:

-First, the District should greatly expand funding for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) and create a special fund for small landlords facing financial hardship.

-Second, the District should create a landlord relief fund to assist landlords who can show they face extreme hardship.

That work must start today so not one family loses their home because of this pandemic.

Thank you.