Concerns About the Future After the Eviction Moratorium is Lifted

There was a small turnout for a local Cancel the Rents protest in Reno, but that didn’t stop the organizer’s passion. 22-year old Maggie Mae Rose works as a customer service representative for a large retailer in Reno. She didn’t want the name of her job to be public. Rose has been able to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic but that might come to an end. On Tuesday, April 28, her work will reevaluate whether or not to continue employing its staff. If Rose gets furloughed, she will receive her last pay check on May 8, 2020.

"Right now I feel privileged to be in the position I'm in with having money still coming even though I might not have that for much longer," Rose said, "Even if my situation is good, I think it's important to be there for others that don't have a good situation. I know people that are afraid if they can’t pay rent. I know people that are scared about, are they going to be able to buy food? I'm not even doing it for myself. I am protesting for every family with one kid to five kids that are terrified," Rose said.

As long as Nevada is under a state of emergency, Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered a moratorium on evictions. This means tenants can’t get evicted from a property but they must still pay rent. Rose wants rent to be canceled until people can get back on their feet.

"Cancel all rent, all mortgages for homeowners, we even are extending to like small landlords, small businesses, like people that are definitely going to be affected by this," Rose said,

Rose said Sisolak’s eviction moratorium might cause a false sense of security because tenants will still continue to accrue rent during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Your rent will have to paid but then you're going to be further in debt. So I think that's something to talk about because now you're just adding to your whole debt situation, which is a stress in itself,” Rose said.

Many tenants in Nevada could be facing eviction after the moratorium is lifted.

"It's a hard demand but it is an important demand and it is hard to put a time limit on it, I'd say. But I do think if we're going to do it at all, it would need to be until people's employment went back up, for people to actually go back to work to… — "It's a hard demand but it is an important demand and it is hard to put a time limit on it, I'd say. But I do think if we're going to do it at all, it would need to be until people's employment went back up, for people to actually go back to work to get a paycheck to pay rent," Rose said in regards to how long rent should be canceled.

Seeking to House Unsheltered Individuals in Hotels and Motels

Another demand of the Cancel the Rents protest was to house vulnerable populations in vacant hotel and motel rooms. Rose said this can be implemented in Reno especially when so many motels sit empty and wait to be torn down.

"The CDC guidelines on social distancing and having shelter during this time is so important. When you look at the solutions for that, we shouldn't be stripping off parking lots to have homeless sleep on them. What we're talking about is, we already have all these empty houses, why aren't we using these to benefit our community and have shelter for the homeless? We hear about, specifically in Reno, shelters getting too full or there's just not enough resources. We can extend that to these motels and these hotels," Rose said.

Rose said housing for undocumented individuals and currently unsheltered individuals is crucial.

"This demand itself extends outside of pandemic. This is just like a demand that we just want period because it's really concerning and disheartening when you see all these empty houses that are just sitting around in your town and you see homeless people on the street," Rose said.

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom launched Project Roomkey, which aims to provide 15,000 hotel or motel rooms for houseless individuals who are vulnerable to getting the virus like seniors, and to those who have been exposed or tested positive for COVID-19. A little under 900 individuals have been housed as of this reporting.

“I think [Sisolak's moratorium on evictions] is just not enough. I don't think it actually provides support to families that are waiting for their unemployment," Rose said.

Organizing Efforts Look Different Amid Pandemic

Due to social distancing guidelines and prohibited in-person contact, organizers from PSL needed to get creative in order to have a COVID-19 friendly protest.

"I think the biggest thing is definitely safety. We understand that we have freedom of speech and we have the right to do what we're going to do but we also know the reality of the situation. We know that there's a virus out there. I think that we believe that we must act right now to defend our demands and to defend our people but at the same time, we need to understand that there's a pandemic going on and that we need to be safe. We need to be smart about this and just responsible. I think that would be probably the worst thing ever if maybe we got what we wanted but then someone got sick because of the event,” Rose said.

Rose said car caravans are a great opportunity for a new form of protest under the restrictions of the pandemic but it has its limitations. Protestors who want to participate must have access to a vehicle. Additionally, Rose said organizing can be challenging when you can’t merely walk up and talk to your neighbor. She has grudgingly moved her protest preparations online, which is not her first choice.

"It's hard right now because usually we would do outreach, which is like walking around the street, talking to people in our community about it, getting their input on it [and] inviting them to the event. However, with obvious safety guidelines we can't do that," Rose said.

Reporting by Lucia Starbuck for Our Town Reno