Housing Activists March in Downtown Brooklyn for Extension of State’s Eviction Moratorium

A few hundred people gathered Thursday morning in Downtown Brooklyn to protest the impending end to the state’s eviction moratorium and plead for a quick fix to the bungled rent relief program. 

Organized by Housing Justice for All, a statewide tenants rights organization, local groups such as Crown Heights Tenants Union, Flatbush Tenant Coalition, Williamsburg-based Los Sures and Las Damas of Sunset were present, among many other tenant and housing activists and elected officials. 

“It is not right that people are living with anxiety, it is not right that someone applied [for rental assistance] in June and still doesn’t know what’s happening with their application,” said Assembly Member Marcela Mitaynes, who represents Red Hook, Sunset Park and northern Bay Ridge.

Many of the speakers stressed the urgency of the situation. The city’s eviction ban ends on August 31, and a provision allowing residents to self certify as being rent burdened (instead of in court) was recently blocked by the U.S Supreme Court. While the CDC’s eviction moratorium is technically still in place, recent reports suggest that it could be modified by the Supreme Court. 

At the same time, the state’s rental assistance program, called ERAP, has been in shambles, with only a small percentage of the money being released.

“How can they let evictions start when so little money has gotten into people’s hands?,” said Fabien Rogers, a Brooklyn resident and organizer with Housing Organizers for People Empowerment (HOPE).

The rally began in Cadman Plaza Park, where a parade of elected officials spoke on the severity of the moratorium’s end and who it affects the most.

“We call people essential workers, we clap for them out our windows, we do all types of performative things but we don’t do the one thing we need to do, which is house and protect people,” said Assembly Member Emily Gallagher, who represents Greenpoint, Williamsburg and parts of Clinton Hill and Fort Greene.

The group then marched down Cadman Plaza West toward Borough Hall, where 17 activists planted themselves in the middle street, surrounded by boxes and suitcases with messages such as “Stop Evictions, Save Lives” etched across them.

NYPD officers arrived in droves, surrounding all sides of the group. The 17 activists, after having stopped traffic, were arrested before the police eventually cleared the street.

“We have to keep on fighting,” said Paulette James, a member of the Flatbush Tenant Coalition. “If we don’t fight, what will happen to us? We’ll end up in the street and the pandemic will never go [away].”

[Photos by Craig Hubert]

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