Housing is a Civil and Human Right

By H. Benjamin Ed. D, President, Cobb County Chapter of the SCLC

By Mr. Richard Pelligrino, Director of Field Operations, Cobb County Chapter of the

SCLC

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization [WHO] declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Stated differently, respected scientists concluded that the virus has caused the death of over 4,571,410 people world-wide, while 647,000 occurred in the USA and in the state of Georgia more than 22,000 lives were lost to this phenomenon that experts inform usonlyhappens once every one thousand [1000] years. Mental and emotional illness and death were not the only consequences resulting from this rare and deadly horror. The pandemic has placed our fragile social system network in a deadly chokehold that if left unattended will wipe out many of the accomplishments that still stand as bed rock of the civil rights movement that fought for jobs, housing, education and hundreds of other pieces of legislation and policies supporting social justice for all. The pandemic has caused the separation of employees from their employers; the separation of parents and students from their teachers and their schools; and the separation of tenants from their landlords. Regrettably, evictions have skyrocketed leading many observers to predict the coming of an epidemic owing to the large number of individuals and families who will be at best forced to be sheltered with family members or friends, and others who will use their automobiles, tents, blankets, cardboard boxes and/or caverns formed by traffic overpasses for shelter. The unsheltered who secure vouchers from local housing authorities are found unacceptable by an increasing number of land lords who also have been adversely impacted by the pandemic. Although funds are available to pay delinquent rents, the system is not efficiently operated and landlords who need the income they receive from their rental properties are caught in a bind and, like tenants, many of them suffer.

Why Is this A Concern for SCLC?

Equitable access to employment, housing and education illuminates the years of struggle in which the Southern Christian Leadership Conference [SCLC] has been involved for more than six decades. Access to housing is the linchpin that ties together the fruit derived from gainful employment and access to schools that work well for all students. The Fair Housing Act of 1965 addressed the myriad obstacles that obstruct Black Indigenous People of Color [BIPOC] and poor people from access to housing that is affordable for purchase or rent. In 2018, Dr. Steele was invited to the Florida Panhandle to see the devastation caused by Hurricane Michael. Subsequent to his visit to the Panhandle, it is reported that he committed to use the SCLC brand and resources to help the victim of Michael’s rage overcome the damage done to their lives. His actions affirmed our commitment to all who are in need of housing. In the 2019 Summer Edition of the SCLC Magazine, Dr. Charles Steele offered an observation describing the plight of BIPOC and poor people: “For poor folks throughout the world, there is a daily storm for survival, and always another one of some sort on the way.”

Government agencies at all levels have intervened to delay the pending roll out of evictions put on hold owing to the pandemic caused by COVID-19. The interventions, although necessary, have been unpredictable, temporary and insufficient to assuage the mental and emotional effects on tenants and landlord.

Members in the Cobb County Chapter of SCLC are knowledgeable about our organization’s commitment to help ensure that access to affordable housing remains at the forefront of the work we are chartered to perform. Members of our chapter have been actively involved in researching sustainable solutions while employing the Kingian methodology to resolve conflict. The Director of Field Operation and the President of the chapter have been directly involved in attempting to ameliorate the escalating conflict between landlords, BIPOC and poor people caused by housing instability resulting from both the pandemic and years of gentrification and the availability of affordable housing. We have helped form a diverse, bi-partisan coalition of change agents in the county whose focus is both the immediate and long-term prevention of evictions and homelessness through programs aimed at providing affordable housing. In the immediacy of the crisis, we have formed an alliance with We Thrive in Riverside Renters’ Association whose work as the county’s sole tenants’ rights organization has been recognized nationally by Oprah Winfrey. In that role, the Cobb SCLC Chapter has become the mediator when there is a dispute between tenants and landlords, mainly in apartment complexes, using the Kingian methodology to resolve those conflicts: first, ascertaining the facts, then arranging a meeting of all parties concerned to negotiate a resolution, and, if that doesn’t work or breaks down, engaging in a direct action to bring the matter to the public court of opinion and persuasion—always with the goal of resolution and reconciliation.

We have had several wins in this regard, with zero “losses” thus far. For example, one apartment complex of over 600 residents, with a mixture of income based and market rate rental units, was recently sold and bought at auction by a Massachusetts based company, who discovered that several of the buildings were unsafe for tenants and needed emergency repairs which could not be completed while occupied. Since the other buildings were at capacity with no vacancies, they could not relocate the affected tenants on the property so they exercised a clause in the leases which said in the event of the need for emergency repairs, residents must vacate the premises in thirty days from such notice, which is untenable even in normal times. We were contacted by a We Thrive representative and tenants to intervene. We contacted the corporate office of the new owners of the property. They were so impressed that SCLC, a national civil rights organization was interested in assisting the parties find a mutually acceptable solution. Their Chief Operations Officer flew down immediately and met with us, together with his local and regional staff---and provided guidance that resulted in the development of a plan to relocate the 27 families affected to other properties in the county. We brought the elected County Commissioner and local non-profit aid agencies who have received Covid-related rental assistance dollars, to the table and they all formed a working relationship to get this crisis resolved. News of that relative success has spread, by both the media and word of mouth, and tenants at other apartment complexes, including a brand new one for seniors, have contacted us to provide similar mediations. Although our efforts to mediate conflicts have been met with resistance by some property management or ownership companies, when they encounter our resolute steadfastness combined with our unbiased approach, in favor of both the tenants and landlords, issues have been resolved without the need to resort to direct action and confrontation.

Since the distribution of pandemic related rental assistance funds has been slow, we have lobbied for continued eviction moratoriums, both nationally and locally. Landlords would be made whole by those funds thereby de-escalating their sense of urgency to

press for evictions of tenants awaiting the completion of a review process that often is stalled within the bureaucracy responsible for the timely distribution of funds to mitigate potential financial losses by landlords. While working hard to help fix a broken system and reconcile conflict between tenants and landlords, we learned, to our dismay, that our own Georgia Association of Realtors (GAR) was one of the parties filing suit against the President’s and CDC temporary eviction moratorium. To address this unforeseen occurrence, we formed a partnership with the Housing Justice League and American Friends Service Committee after which we reached out to GAR to attempt to stop their action to sue for a number of reasons: [1] the law suit was a conflict of interest; and [2] the GAR By-laws requires the organization to represent landlords and tenants as well as buyers and sellers of homes. Although their lawsuit eventually prevailed and the national moratorium has been lifted, we are still attempting to discuss with GAR what actions they will now take to help prevent evictions and advance affordable housing for all. In this regard, we are also lobbying our local elected leaders to enact a temporary local eviction moratorium and we remain committed to the Southern Christian Leadership’s belief that housing is a civil and human right.

Where Do We Go From Here?

In closing, we offer the following path forward toward solutions that will prove to be invaluable to our need to build a supply of affordable housing. • Work to strengthen the role housing authorities play so they remain aligned with purposes for which they were established. H. Benjamin Williams

• Advocate for a community outreach taskforce charged with sharing the responsibilities to inform, educate and advocate for equitable access to affordable housing. • Amp up participation in local planning and zoning boards with the understanding that their decisions are made for future generations. • Acquire and use your understanding of Executive Order #13985 AKA Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government Richard Pelligrino