From Chicago to Philadelphia to New York to Los Angeles, tenant groups are organizing to withhold rent. | Shutterstock.com

Tenants are calling on state and federal leaders to cancel rent for the duration of the coronavirus crisis Winsome Pendergrass, a Brooklyn-based organizer with New York Communities for Change, works to helps tenants stay in their homes. Now she?s facing the same dilemma wrenching millions of Americans whose lives have been upended by the novel coronavirus pandemic. ?I?ve been out of work over two weeks,? she says. ?I may have a month?s rent?but do I give it to the landlord or do I keep it to buy food"?
Like the tens of millions of cost-burdened Americans who were struggling to make rent before the global crisis, Pendergrass doesn?t see paying rent as a viable option when she?s been ordered to stay home. She hopes all tenants facing a similar decision will come to the same conclusion: Cancel rent. ?We are hoping and praying that every single tenant across America will stand up, speak up,? she says. Now that April 1 has finally arrived, organizers in major cities and, in some instances, whole states are announcing aggressive demands as tenants withhold rent payments.
On a March 31 call, 200 housing advocates organized by the Center for Popular Democracy, Pendergrass was joined by Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Rep. Jésus ?Chuy? Garcia, who called on federal leaders to cancel rent and mortgage payments for as long as COVID-19 stay-at-home orders are...