By Jessica Douglas, High Country News, January 27, 2021
In mid-December,a federal survey found that more than 1.5 million Californians were behind on rent, while more than 2.5 million had little to no confidence that they’d be able to make their rent in January. The Biden administration extended a federal eviction moratorium through March, but tenants across the West are bracing for eviction when that moratorium ends.
According to Jackie Fielder (Two Kettle Lakota and Hidatsa), who is queer, Latina and a former candidate for the California State Senate in San Francisco, the cause of California’s housing inequities is far bigger than COVID-19. It stretches back to colonization, when, she said, “the commodification of housing — the idea that one should only be housed if one has enough resources to pay for it — began to take hold on this land.” Instead, Fielder proposes a housing market based on need, not profit.
Even before the pandemic, approximately 53% of California renters spent more than a third of their household income on rent, with about a quarter spending more than half on it. People of color and working-class renters are particularly likely to face this hardship. Meanwhile, California’s intense real estate speculation only increases gentrification and displacement.
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