Photos / Kari Napoli
OAKLAND, CA —We’re calling it a rent strike, but let’s be clear on our slogan: Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay. Twenty million people are facing eviction due to COVID19, and they’re not paying rent for one simple reason – they don’t have the money.
An Oakland resident by the name of Ryan rents from Mosser Capital Investments. He is an active member of the Oakland Rent Strike.
“My wife owned a dog walking business,” said Ryan. “Within hours of shelter in place, her business collapsed. We lost more than half of our household income. And most of her customers were tech workers who will now work from home for the foreseeable future.”
Mosser Capital is a billion-dollar investment company which also received between two to five million dollars from the Payment Protection Program.
“We’ve never missed a rent payment. The decision to not pay wasn’t easy. We paid our rent in April because we felt the pressure. But we couldn’t pay it in May.”
Ryan is aware of twenty other households [units] on strike in Mosser buildings.
“Next month it will only get worse because the extra $600 in unemployment is being dropped.”
If evicted, Ryan’s credit will be marred by the eviction for at least seven years. “I’m not a renter because I choose to be. Ownership has never been an option for me. I graduated school in 2008 with school debt. I work in a library; my wife was a small business owner. I don’t have a family sitting on down payment money. Everyone I know who rents is doing it because they have to, not because they like the flexibility of renting.”
Currently, cities propose saddling these renters with the debt of back rent in addition to the eviction on their records.
Mosser Capital remains a billion-dollar company.
