FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 31, 2020 Contacts: Michael Robin, Media Committee Jesse Connor, Media Committee Tenants, City Leaders to Speak Today at Chicago Rent Freeze Virtual Town Hall Affected Renters to Give Testimony; Featured Speakers Include Alds. Rossana Rodriguez, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, Byron Sigcho-Lopez & CTU VP Stacy Davis Gates; Musical Guest OHMME WHEN: Wednesday, April 1st | 3 PM to 7 PM WHERE: Town hall will be conducted over Zoom webinar. Members of the press can register to attend here. The event will be broadcast on Facebook Live on the Autonomous Tenants Union page and shared on the pages on cosponsors. WHO: ● Testimony from over 30 tenants from among the more than 15,000 who signed the Chicago Rent Freeze petition, representing a cross-section of a working class on the precipice of disaster if swift and dramatic action is not taken in the form of rent/mortgage waivers, automatic lease extensions, and a freeze on eviction filings. ● Featured speakers: Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates; 25th Ward Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez; 33rd Ward Ald. Rossana Rodriguez; 35th Ward Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa ● Organizers: Members of Autonomous Tenants Union will give a tenant organizing 101 presentation; a Tenant Rights Trainer from Uptown People’s Law Center will give a Know Your Rights presentation. ● Musical guests: OHMME; V.V. Lightbody; Jennifer Hall; Ben Joseph of Secret Bad Boy; Reed Capshaw ● Spanish language tenant testimony starting at 6 PM, with simultaneous English interpretation. WHAT: The Chicago Rent Freeze coalition will host a virtual town hall, broadcast on Facebook Live, highlighting the testimony of tenants affected by the COVID-19 crisis telling in their personal stories of struggle and uncertainty as rent comes due in the wake of the unprecedented mass layoffs caused by COVID-19. In addition, elected officials and city leaders will speak to the need for both legislative action as well as the building of grassroots solidarity networks among tenants. Organizers from Autonomous Tenants Union will educate viewers on tenant organizing strategy and resources, and lawyers from legal aid partners will give a guide to tenants’ legal rights. Independent musicians, whose livelihoods are among the hardest hit by necessary COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, will perform live. WHY: In Chicago, where more than half of renter households are considered “rent-burdened” and over 85,000 people are already homeless, one missed paycheck can mean a choice between groceries or rent, with a looming potential for homelessness. Millions of Americans have already been forced out of work by the stay-at-home social distancing measures necessitated by the COVID-19 outbreak, yet state and local officials have failed to respond with protective measures to match the scope of the crisis. Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Lightfoot must wake up to the reality being faced by working class people - one in which rent debts pile up and evictions are still being filed, with the consequences dropping like a hammer once the emergency ends. These elected executives must hear the concerns of their working class constituents and use the broad emergency powers their offices are granted in order to lift obstacles like the Rent Control Preemption Action and institute desperately needed protections for renters. Autonomous Tenants Union (ATU) is committed to organizing for housing justice from below and to the left. As an independent collective based in Chicago, we strategize together to defend and enforce our right to dignified housing. We believe that housing is a human right, not a commodity! We fight for an end to all evictions, and for community control of housing through the building of popular power. housing.atu@gmail.com | facebook.com/AutonomousTenantsUnion | autonomoustenantsunion.org
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