ACTION NEEDED: HOUSING SECURITY NOW!

The dramatic toll of COVID-19 and the lack of adequate government intervention continues to rise as more than 3.5 million cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in America, and 138,000 American lives have been lost. In Waltham, we have confirmed over 1,200 of our neighbors have had the virus and over 75 Walthamites have died. Small and large businesses are closing for good and our economy is nearing a recession. Waltham has already seen businesses begin to shutter because of COVID-19 .

An untold number of lives lost could have been prevented by a compassionate government that values human lives over profit. Now there is a new preventable tragedy on the horizon: a massive wave of evictions.

The courts had a moratorium put on them preventing them from hearing eviction proceedings, essentially postponing rent for much of America. Here in Massachusetts, that deadline was just extended to October 17th from August 18th. The problem is that even with this extension many of these people did not get enough assistance to put food on the table, much less have enough money to pay rent. There is no ending to this story except an unprecedented number of homeless families.

That is why we’re hoping that you will join us in writing to the Waltham City Council to demand the following be done to ensure housing security for hundreds of Waltham families:

1) Pass a resolution at the August 3rd Special Summer Session Meeting of the Waltham City Council in support of bill HD.5166 currently in the State House that would extend this moratorium by one year.

2) Create more rental assistance programs here in Waltham before October 17th. The number of applications for past assistance outweighed the number of those receiving help by a heavy margin. We need to put money directly in the hands of these people or they will not make it out of this crisis with their homes. We suggest taking money out of our CPA fund, and the municipal housing trust fund, which combined have millions of dollars that can be utilized for this crisis. That money is there for a rainy day. This is that rainy day.

3) End your summer recess by calling for meetings each week, letting it be known at the August 3rd Special Summer Session Meeting of the Waltham City Council that this is your intention. The people of Waltham need leadership. We need our local government to show leadership.

4) Pressure the country to keep the Waltham District Court closed for non-essential evictions until more rent relief programs are put in place.

An estimated 20 million people are at a threat of evictions in the coming weeks.

Waltham will not be spared.

Unemployment levels in Waltham are disproportionately impacting the working-class families of the South Side. Many of these people could not secure government assistance for a variety of reasons. If you would like proof, come down to a Healthy Waltham food drive, which has gone from once a month (and summers off) to now almost weekly with no end in sight. They are seeing 500-700 people come to acquire food each time. This drastic increase in need speaks truth to the fact of their troubles acquiring unemployment benefits.

And these evictions will disproportionately impact Black and Brown communities. If you would like a forecast of things to come, you need only to look at our Boston neighbors. According to MIT, between March 1st and April 20th, despite the moratorium, landlords in the Boston area still filed hundreds of eviction proceedings. 78% of these eviction proceedings were done in predominantly minority neighborhoods. If you look at the demographics of those coming to our local food drive, well over 80% are immigrant families.

One place you wouldn’t hear about this issue is the local Waltham City Council. You wouldn’t hear about it because they have been on summer recess since June 22nd. In these troubling times of racial tensions, a global pandemic and economic insecurities the Waltham City Councillors saw no reason to suspend their usual summer vacation which won’t end until September 14th. We find this unacceptable. According to the City Charter (2-5, part c) the Mayor, Council President or three different City Councillors can call for a special session of the City Council. We are urging residents of Waltham to email and call their elected officials in hopes that the Waltham City Council would end this inappropriate recess and address the many problems facing our community and the world.

We understand that this would be unprecedented, but these are unprecedented times.

By filling out an email with us, you will be sending it out to each City Councillor and the Mayor. We hope you will stand up for our Black and Brown neighbors. We hope our local government will stand up for our Black and Brown Neighbors.