page_title: Cancel rent
hierarchical_section_title: Cancel rent
caption_attribution_description: English: Cancel rent poster in phone booth. Photo taken in Chinatown, NYC (July 21, 2020), with the Manhattan Bridge in the background.
context_page_description: Cancel rent is a slogan and tenant rights movement in the United States, which advocates for the cancellation of rental payments and suspension of mortgage payments during the coronavirus pandemic. Activists and organizations have also presented other demands, which include the cancellation of housing-related expenses, cancellation of late fees for housing payments, the establishment of a landlord hardship fund, an increase in emergency housing, and an eviction moratorium. The movement was triggered by the economic impact of the pandemic, in which mass business closures and employee layoffs resulted in financial insecurity for many Americans. Tenants faced a range of issues, including the inability to pay rent, harassment or intimidation from landlords, and potential eviction. This situation put tenants at risk of damaged credit ratings, food insecurity, and homelessness. Consequently, activists, tenants rights organizations, and some politicians have called for the cancellation of rent.
context_section_description: Cancel rent is a slogan and tenant rights movement in the United States, which advocates for the cancellation of rental payments and suspension of mortgage payments during the coronavirus pandemic. Activists and organizations have also presented other demands, which include the cancellation of housing-related expenses (such as utility payments), cancellation of late fees for housing payments, the establishment of a landlord hardship fund, an increase in emergency housing, and an eviction moratorium. The movement was triggered by the economic impact of the pandemic, in which mass business closures and employee layoffs resulted in financial insecurity for many Americans. Tenants faced a range of issues, including the inability to pay rent, harassment or intimidation from landlords, and potential eviction. This situation put tenants at risk of damaged credit ratings, food insecurity, and homelessness. Consequently, activists, tenants rights organizations, and some politicians have called for the cancellation of rent.
  The movement has inspired protests and rent strikes in cities such as New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia, in collaboration with grassroots organizations. It has also become a popular hashtag on social media (#cancelrent). Some politicians have introduced supportive legislative proposals, such as the Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act, introduced by Representative Ilhan Omar, and Emergency Housing Protections and Relief Act of 2020, introduced by Representative Maxine Waters. Local and state politicians have brought forth proposals, such as Bill S8125A, introduced Michael Gianaris. According to Amna A. Akbar in a New York Times opinion piece, the "cancel rent" movement stands alongside defund the police and the Green New Deal as part of a broad, left-wing movement to "...upend the status quo and redistribute power from elites to the working class."
caption: "Cancel rent" poster in Chinatown, New York City, July 2020
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