週五7月17日早上11點,族裔媒體服務社(Ethnic
Media Services) 舉行網上會議,主題以圍繞著COVID-19流行病毒所產生的連鎖反應為主。會議的主講人針對這個議題發言。主講人有Emily A. Benfer, Dr. Margot Kushel,Legislator Kumar Barve, Nisha Vyas, Akash Kalia, 他們討論了在下來幾個月,因驅逐暫停令的政策即將停止,而許多人仍然在失業的狀態之中,沒有足夠的收入付房租的,因此大約有2,800萬個家庭,會付不出房租可能面臨被驅逐的困境。主講人同時討論地方及州級政府可能提出的解決方案。
Millions
of workers laid off during the COVID pandemic have not been able to pay their rents.
State and local politicians have enacted eviction moratoriums. But many of
those protections are set to expire in August, setting off a tidal wave of
evictions. Speakers explored who is most at risk, measured to extend the
moratoriums, and litigation and advocacy aimed at protecting tenants.
主講人Speakers
Emily
A. Benfer, visiting professor of law and the
director of the Health Justice Clinic at
Wake Forest School of Law, and co-creator of the COVID19 Housing Policy
Scorecard with the Eviction Lab at Princeton University will share nationwide
data on evictions, with a focus on current racial demographics of the issue and
the populations hardest hit.
Dr.
Margot Kushel, Professor of Medicine in the Division
of General Internal Medicine at
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center and the Director of the
UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, will focus on housing vulnerability prior
to 2020;
how the pandemic has exacerbated the crisis of affordable housing in
California; and
possible longer-term solutions.
Legislator
Kumar Barve, of the Maryland state House of
Delegates, will discuss the impact
of evictions in his state. Barve and several legislators have written to
Maryland Governor
Larry Hogan to extend the state's eviction moratorium, which is currently set to
expire in August.
Nisha
Vyas, senior housing attorney at the Western
Center on Law and Poverty, will discuss
litigation and advocacy work on behalf of tenants, and some "know your
rights" for
tenants facing evictions.
Akash
Kalia, of the Palms Hotel in Santa Rosa,
California, will discuss how motel and hotel
owners have stepped in to house the state's unsheltered population during the pandemic,
and his vision for longer-term solutions.