Late Thursday afternoon a report began circulating that the administration is asking states to delay releasing their unemployment numbers until the Department of Labor releases the total number of claims next week, and to report only using general terms. According to “The Washington Post, “More than a million workers are expected to lose their jobs by the end of March,” a stark contrast from February’s unemployment rate, which was near a record low. Michael Hicks, an economist at Ball State University, predicts that this could be the worst month for layoffs in U.S. history. Countless people are worried about paying bills, including their mortgages, rent and utility bills, and being able to buy food and medicine.
Some amazing landlords are trying to ease their tenants’ stress by foregoing collecting rent in April.
Paul Schumann is one of them:
Schumann has 21 units on Cleveland’s west side. Most of them are occupied by single people who work in the service industry. Bars and restaurants were mandated to close, and events were canceled amid coronavirus concerns.
“This applies to all my tenants. This is across the board. I have some people who don’t work in restaurants and are still able to work. But as long as I’m doing it, let’s do it across the board,” Schumann said.
Nathan Nichols has two tenants in South Portland, Maine. He posted his decision to not collect rent next month on Facebook and his post was shared more than 20,000 times:
A South Portland landlord is not collecting rent from his tenants for the month of April due to the coronavirus. He posted his decision on Facebook in hopes other landlords think about doing the same thing. His post has more than 20,000 shares @newscentermaine pic.twitter.com/A3xnftpz0L
— Roslyn Flaherty (@roslyn_flaherty) March 18, 2020
Nichols said of his tenants, “I know they’re kind of on edge. I knew they were going to be stressing out this month for sure.”
Retail landlords are also similarly helping out their tenants who have had to temporarily close their businesses.
Landlords have bills to pay, too, of course, but if they can afford to not collect rent for a month or two, that’s a tremendous help to people who may have no idea when they are going to get paid again and have mounting expenses. It would be great if landlords across the country who could afford to do this would do the same, or even charge a lesser amount of rent. That would go a long way to relieving people’s stress and anxiety, which will only worsen if they end up getting sick on top of being laid off. Jimmy Fallon is filming mini-episodes of The Tonight Show from his home (with the help of his wife, Nancy, and his daughters, Frances and Winne), and he made a joke in his second broadcast (with Lin-Manuel Miranda!) about how it was “Day 83” of being at home, and Nancy interrupted and said, “six.” People need all the help they can get right now, and I’m so glad that there are landlords who are trying to offer it.
Images credit: Andrew Neel and Bruno Moretti via Pexels.
I hope mortgages are next! I’m in the hotel industry and properties are closing left and right here in nyc … it’s only a matter of time before I lose my job too. We just bought our house a few months ago!! Fortunately (lol) we’ve had to postpone our wedding so at least that frees up some money.
Times are tough y’all. Stay safe.
They should. I live in FL and anytime a hurricane is projected to hit, lenders offer hurricane relief options.
In NY at least I think it has happened with mortgages. Governor Cuomo talked about it yesterday. I don’t think it’s automatic for everyone, but based on need mortgage payments will be waived for 90 days, with no additional interest and no reporting to the credit agencies. The payments will be added to the end of the mortgage (so it will extend the length of the mortgage by up to 3 months).
runcmc, do you mind if I ask you a personal question? How do you feel about deBlasio? I don’t understand the hate that he is getting and I think he is trying his best to get of the pandemic, so I am confused. If you don’t want to answer my question, I understand completely. I am curious as to how New Yorkers feel.
That’s the decent thing to do. I have never seen this type of shutdown in my life. I went to the grocery store last night and it looked like something out of the Walking Dead. Everything was bare. We need to have each other’s backs right now.
I had thought eviction freezes were in progress. But, I suppose the USA is not the kind of country to make that a matter of law.
We are landlords and we cannot afford to do this, nor can any of the landlords I know…unless they suspend our mortgage payments and utilities. The profit margin is very narrow and many buildings are already operating on a loss.
I hope they suspend mortgages, it would help a LOT of people, and the lenders wouldn’t lose anything because everyone would still make all their payments, just delayed.
Hopefully if that happens more landlords are able to pass that on to their renters.
That’s what they will need to do. We need to stop assuming all landlords are millionaire land barons or slumlords. They need to pause mortgage payments along with evictions so we can all have some breathing room.
Will the Kushner real estate empire do this? Odds: zero to none.
Most of my tenants have section 8 vouchers so I will still be getting paid. We already made the decision to forgo rent for the few tenants that may be affected by the shutdowns. But I’ve got one guy that’s a month behind already. I try to tell him to catch up by adding $100 to the rent every month so when he has another emergency I can work with him. He’s got a good job on an assembly line at a big 3 auto plant and his wife also works. I’m always perplexed when two able bodied working adults, no children, have trouble paying a modest rent. Some people just take advantage of kindness. When the government shutdown was happening the rents were delayed for the section 8 recipients and we waived the late fees.
Thank you for doing what you can!
There are a lot of people who do struggle, but there are also those who take advantage.
I bought my first house from an elderly guy who was renting it cheaply to a family, who stopped paying for almost a year, and he had to put it on the market to get them out. Both parents worked – in fact I knew the husband, as his job was tangentially connected to mine! They just knew they could get away with it.
Didn’t Emily Ratja something do that recently in NYC? Her and her husband didn’t pay rent for almost a year or more? Something like $30k they owed? That story reminds me of the people that take advantage, because they can. So messed up.
@Writermarie Emily Ratja husband took advantage of an artists loophole with paying low rent. It’s for starving artists he’s mega rich. The building tried to get them out but they fought back legally and don’t pay rent now. On top of the fact they don’t even live there they sublet it.
https://nypost.com/2019/03/02/emily-ratajkowski-and-her-millionaire-husband-are-living-rent-free-landlord-claims/
Tell this to my landlord please . . . I’m about the lose my job in the next few weeks I think.
I am so sorry you’re in this situation. My job is secure for now, but with the hotels all closing in Key West on Sunday, that probably won’t last long. No tourists, no need for airline employees.
I wish our landlord would cut our rent in half, at least. But that won’t happen. I’m happy for those who are able to get some relief right now.
Meanwhile my landlord is still trying to replace the tenants on rent control with new ones so more rent can be charged.
Those types of landlords are the kind that kick their grandmothers to the curb, the worst of the worst.
My housekeeper is not getting a break on her rent, so I am going to help her pay her rent. Interesting is that one of her houses that she cleans owns the house and isn’t giving her a break on her rent, which I think is super shitty to me but I won’t say anything. We won’t be suffering too bad unless my husband falls ill. He is in private practice, a physician, so we are all freaking out. If he falls ill, I am screwed as I a suffer from chronic pain and I am in the higher risk category so I don’t know where I am going to go!
That’s a really sh*tty landlord. Jeez. Sometimes I’m amazed at how awful people can be.
@Lee I hope you all stay protected. I have an autoimmune disorder but also need to work to get paid, so I’m risking it every time I leave my house. Thankfully, I’ve been in good health here recently but I know a lot of folks who aren’t, and I worry about them.
I am a property owner. We will be offering some relief for our tenants, however, it’s not easy when you have a mortgage to pay on top of a boatload of taxes, utilities, and insurances. The relief should ultimately come from the actual top via suspension of mortgages and taxes. I think tenants right now need to realize their landlord (unless it’s a Trump) likely isn’t at the top of the food chain and shares many of their financial concerns.
The funny thing is, landlords like you at least are trying to help. Bless you and the landlord in this story. Other landlords are pretty wealthy and yet will offer no assistance unless forced/encouraged to do so. Still, Reading this story gives me hope for humanity.
I got an email from my landlord/management company last night with the subject: *Must Read* Rent Payment — it was just telling us how to pay our rent online…..
Not my landlord. A text was sent out that all office business was to be transacted by phone, email or text. I live in a modestly sized complex run by a management company (used to be run by one individual until an apartment flooded one day and he was slow to react. He ran the place like it was his own personal kingdom and he was a moody bastard). There was nothing in the text about oh you can be late with the rent for a month or skip it entirely. However there is an easier way to pay online but I’m not trusting the internet with my rent money. Not that amount.
I don’t see landlords letting tenants not pay for the simple reason that it will snowball into a bigger problem. The property owners still have mortgages and bills for upkeep to pay. The unpaid rent backs up and at the end of this crisis, the tenant has a huge amount to pay.
This is a tough one. I’m a landlord and rely on the rental income. This whole domino effect is insane.
I don’t expect a free ride, but a reduction in my rent through these tough times would be greatly appreciated. Especially considering we can’t utilize common areas that we pay for like the fitness center or pool. I got laid off yesterday with no idea of when I will be back to work. There needs to be more done in NY and on a federal level to keep people paid since most are forced to be laid off and stay at home by the government.
As long as I have a job and thankfully I can work remotely from home. I am happy to pay full rent. But if this goes past summer. I’m pretty sure I will be on the chopping block I’m administration overhead. I don’t bring in revenue for the firm.
I have an awesome boss that treats me life family and he is high up in the power food chain. But even he won’t be able to protect me forever.
I am hoping my building mgmt aren’t blood suckers and will work with me if it happens. Or worst case scenario squat for six months and make them legally evict me. There are no happy endings here.