While Philadelphia has extended its eviction moratorium, tomorrow the state of Pennsylvania will have to tell up to 500,000 renters that they wont have a home if their landlords choose to evict them. It's time we stand up together and cancel rent statewide.
Demands from the People's Eviction Court action on Thursday
Our immediate demands are:
1. End the war against Black Philadelphians
Immediately and fully implement the demands of Black Philly Radical Collective (https://tinyurl.com/ycao5364)
2. Complete and Unconditional Rent and Mortgage Forgiveness
3. Moratorium on All Evictions and Foreclosures until the End of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis
Including any encampments, squats, and seized PHA housing.
Permanently end homeless sweeps and service days.
4. Disband PHA and Implement Genuine Housing Reform
Fulfilling the demands of Philadelphia Housing Action (https://philadelphiahousingaction.info/our-demands/) is the first step of this process.
5. Free Mass Testing and Treatment
6. Extend and Expand Social Benefits
Extend PUA and the $600-per-week enhancement.
Remove benefit restrictions for undocumented workers.
7. Immediately and Indefinitely Postpone All Reopening Measures
Structure the reopening process according to the democratic will of workers in each industry.
Our immediate demands are:
1. End the war against Black Philadelphians
Immediately and fully implement the demands of Black Philly Radical Collective (https://tinyurl.com/ycao5364)
2. Complete and Unconditional Rent and Mortgage Forgiveness
3. Moratorium on All Evictions and Foreclosures until the End of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis
Including any encampments, squats, and seized PHA housing.
Permanently end homeless sweeps and service days.
4. Disband PHA and Implement Genuine Housing Reform
Fulfilling the demands of Philadelphia Housing Action (https://philadelphiahousingaction.info/our-demands/) is the first step of this process.
5. Free Mass Testing and Treatment
6. Extend and Expand Social Benefits
Extend PUA and the $600-per-week enhancement.
Remove benefit restrictions for undocumented workers.
7. Immediately and Indefinitely Postpone All Reopening Measures
Structure the reopening process according to the democratic will of workers in each industry.
Google Docs
We Want Freedom: Demands for Black Philly.pdf
Starting this week in Pennsylvania, the eviction moratorium is over. Those who lose their cases in court will be able to be evicted starting September 8th. The state of Pennsylvania has yet to extend the moratorium, and has instead elected so far through inaction to double the United States homeless population from 500k people to 1 million. The state of Pennsylvania has elected through inaction to create the highest concentration of homelessness in our nation. The city of Philadelphia has chosen to evict homeless encampments on September 9th. This is what economic injustice looks like everybody.
Philadelphia residents received an extended moratorium until next year. But they didnt include the homeless encampments. Despite CDC guidelines being against evicting encampments, the folks on the ground have been ordered in court to be evicted, and will be evicted on September 9th by notice. We are not going to just sit around and be told to scurry off and die at the hands of eviction in the State of Pennsylvania. We will stand up and fight to stop all evictions. We will sit in the housing authorities. We will mass squat in government owned homes. We will not accept a death sentence from our city government. We will work together to ensure every person has a shelter, has a home, has food and clean water. We will build mutual aid. We will stand up and fight for those who have the least amount of protections in our nation. Because all of us are 1 bad day from being homeless ourselves.
Pennsylvania we need to respond! How do we respond to a now deadly housing crisis and 500k folks about to be evicted in our state? Select all that you like.
Anonymous Poll
50%
Mass sit in at housing authorities and government offices
38%
Rent strike! Cancel all rent without the governments permission. No protection no money for landlord
44%
General strike! Stop work stop buying! Hault all production. No housing? No economy! No business!
57%
Be physically ready to respond and fight against evicters and provide mass mutual aid resources
6%
Other ideas? Send them to @GrittyBot for our next poll on this topic.
To those who need to know where to park their vehicles they live in, some Walmarts and Cracker Barrels currently offer individuals the ability to park in their lots and sleep in their vehicles. The problem is, each walmart will need 4200 parking spaces to help every evicted Pennsylvanian household park in their lots. That becomes 3500 parking spaces if we include all of the cracker barrel locations too.
Voting won't save us, but there is a drive to get people to volunteer to be poll workers. Most poll workers are elderly and therefore far more susceptible to COVID. If you're interested in a day of work, check out the link:
https://expressforms.pa.gov/apps/pa/dos-votespa/county
https://expressforms.pa.gov/apps/pa/dos-votespa/county
Starting September 8th, with inaction by the state government, up to 500k households could be forcefully removed from their homes. Pennsylvania is about to fuck around and find out.
Why are shelters inefficient and not helpful? It's like getting processed by the criminal justice system. You often get drug tested, have belongings searched. You often have to be in the facility by a certain time. They are also usually not free. Our state does not have the shelter capacity for 500k households, especially during a pandemic. The City of Philadelphia is sentencing those without shelter to death by taking away their camps, and they want to brutalize them further through eviction on September 9th. 18000 homeless, and 40000 vacant properties that can be collected by eminent domain. A $45 million dollar federal grant for low income housing assistance bought a new office. This is unacceptable!