How Philly tenants can demand better protections

The COVID-19 pandemic ravaged Philadelphia, killing thousands of our neighbors and infecting many of us. It shut down our schools and brought businesses to a standstill. But COVID also brought some of the strongest tenant protections Philadelphia has ever known.

There were the temporary initiatives: the eviction moratorium and the waivers for late fees or interest on back rent. Both were critical to keeping Philadelphians housed as we struggled with infection, job loss, and emergency care responsibilities. There was also the well-timed launch of Philadelphia’s Eviction Diversion Program, which offers mediation — rather than eviction — for tenants who owe less than $3,000 in back rent.

These tenant protections were a boon to tenants in the poorest big city in America, but a headache to Philadelphia’s corporate landlords, who saw their profits shrink ever-so-slightly. Now, with many pandemic-era tenant protections expired, those landlords are champing at the bit to take advantage of lapsed tenant protections and recoup their pandemic losses.

Already, we have seen a wave of violent post-pandemic evictions — which paused last year after a series of shootings by “landlord-tenant officers” — and resumed just a few months ago. The evictions, which disproportionately harm the most marginalized among us, allow landlords to raise rents — driving up housing costs for all of us and exacerbating Philadelphia’s housing crisis.

Still, that hasn’t been enough for Philadelphia’s corporate landlords. Driven by blind greed, they are pursuing alternate, unethical, and illegal avenues to exploit poor and working-class tenants to maximize their profits.

They are ignoring the one pandemic-era tenant protection initiative still standing — the Eviction Diversion Program — and forgoing mediation for tenants who owe less than $3,000 in back rent. In effect, this forces mostly poor tenants to navigate the complex housing legal system or, more likely, face eviction. Once a tenant is gone, landlords are able to increase rent on the unit.

Another landlord profit maximization tactic is systematic negligence. Landlords who employ this tactic, including some who receive government-subsidized housing choice vouchers, simply neglect their landlord responsibilities — performing little-to-no services, upkeep, and repairs — in violation of housing codes and joint lease agreements. They are banking on their tenants lacking the time, knowledge, or resources to enforce the terms of their lease in housing court.

Tenants’ silence works to the landlords’ advantage.

As a longtime Philadelphia resident, I’ve experienced landlord greed firsthand. Despite numerous attempts to work with a recent landlord, my home was plagued by plumbing and electrical issues. We faced massive ceiling leaks leading to mold and electrical shocks when we tried to shower, a number of major electrical issues, and no working smoke alarms or carbon monoxide detectors to protect us in case of an emergency.

Once, my sink was so clogged that I had to pour my dishwater out the window from a bucket under my sink. And in order to flush my toilet, I had to pour a bucket of water into it. In the winter, we faced extended periods with no working heat.

Through it all, my landlord made no attempts to fix the issues, even when our safety was at risk. My landlord’s nonresponse made what should be my safe and comfortable space a living nightmare.

What’s most insidious, landlords are organizing to earn even higher profits on all of our backs.

But there is hope. Tenants, organized together, are a powerful force. Already, our community is rising up against landlord greed, organizing through Renters United Philadelphia and OnePA to educate our community about their rights, demand housing policy that puts renters first, and stand up to bad landlords.

Philadelphia is in a housing crisis. So is our country. Recognizing that this crisis is national, we’ve joined a national coalition with the Center for Popular Democracy, demanding that President Joe Biden end the housing crisis by investing in permanently affordable, tenant-controlled housing and stopping cuts to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

We are fighting to preserve a future where we can continue to live and raise our families without having to endure unsafe living conditions and skyrocketing rent increases. That future is possible, but it will take all of us.

Regina Ruffin is a mother of four wonderful children and a member of Renters United Philadelphia, a renter power project of OnePA. She is currently staying with her sister in Frankford after her landlord pushed her and her children out of their home.