Meet Rebecca Garrard (she/her), Campaigns Manager for Housing Justice at Citizen Action of New York. Rebecca fights for equality for New Yorkers every day, to ensure all people regardless of walk of life receive fair and equal housing. Citizen Action of New York is a grassroots membership organization that advocates for various different causes such as housing justice, ensuring our children have a quality public education, ending our current system of mass incarceration and establishing a new system of justice to name a few. They work with the vision in mind to treat others with love, respect and dignity and each person is able to reach their fullest potential if we work together.
Today is May 1st, and for many New Yorkers that means that rent is due. Citizen Action of New York amongst various organizations, are calling for a rent freeze. They are advocating for those that can barely afford to put food on the table for their family and create an equal society. “In New York we have tenants who are unemployed - with 100% of non essential workers ordered to stay home” Garrard tells us. The White House sent a stimulus check to qualifying Americans mid April, but on top of feeding family and various bills collected, most people who are deemed non essential are struggling to get by. Now more than ever - COVID 19 is effecting not only NY populations, but all humans.
“We had a housing crisis prior to COVID-19, and this pandemic has created a humanitarian crisis of housing. People will be facing eviction as of June 20th. We expect mass evictions, displacement, and homelessness as of then.” This pandemic and the novel coronavirus has completely ripped apart the country’s economy, leaving workers who are deemed “non essential” to spar with the economic fallout. What Rebecca means above is there was a small win last month for tenants, residential and commercial. Last month a state eviction moratorium passed in New York and is in effect until at least June 20. Initially, a New York Chief Administrative Judge announced a suspension on court eviction hearings, but there was a small loophole which allowed landlords to proceed. Governor Cuomo took wind of this loop hole, enacting a statewide eviction moratorium for 90 days.
“We have over 90 thousand New Yorkers alone in shelters - who when people are being told to stay at home to stay safe - these people don’t have a home to stay in.” Advocacy organizations led by humans like Rebecca are taking their part in Tweeting, virtual lobbying, and participating in caravan car rallies outside the New York Capitol to shed light on these issues. “We need to take emergency action to house these people.”
At the end of the day we need these warriors like Rebecca to fight for the public of New York. As stated above, Rebecca is with an organization who is one of many fighting through this pandemic, in solidarity. People like her are often overlooked when you think of the word “essential” but in the worlds of the humans Citizen Action fights to protect, they’re essential everyday - just like our previously interviewed Luke Grandis of VOCAL-NY. We can’t stop the compassion for other humans… the homeless can’t stay home, and vulnerable communities become more vulnerable.
The glimmer of light in this pandemic is not lost on Rebecca, though. She tells us “..to stay hopeful in a moment where it would be easy to recoil in a hole - for humanity to crawl in a hole and lock themselves away, there’s this collective action and urgency we see across New York where people are banding together and standing up for change. This change is not just for themselves, but each other, and that is a beautiful thing.”
In closing, let’s all look to help other humans during this time. Whether you agree with the politics on either side of the fence, I think everyone can agree people deserve to be safe, warm with a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. Human connection is what we need to heal our world. We need to want the best for other humans, and now more than ever extend a hand where it’s needed. Whether it be landlords helping tenants, friends helping friends, or families relying on each other. Remember that at the end of the day everyone is stressed and tired. There’s a difference between rallying for causes, and being aggressive to get your point across. We all put our pants on the same way. So, let’s listen to peoples stories, validate them and do all that we can to help each other, it’s the only way we will survive. I’ve said the following before, but it rings true through this pandemic. Whether it’s our significant others, our health, our friends, or a complete stranger- look towards uplifting others and realize there are organizations you can become members of to champion their goals and mission.
Thank you Rebecca and the folx at Citizen Action for all of the work you do, being there for humans of NY.
For more information on Citizen Action of New York, please visit citizenactionny.org or follow them on instagram & Twitter: @citizenactionny.
// Please note all quoted statements above are those of Ms. Garrard and not reflective of Faiella Studios.