June 2021 Update from PEER
As things stand now, the federal eviction moratorium — along with local and state eviction moratoriums in Oregon and most everywhere across the US — expires at the end of this month. All over the country, a lot is happening this month in particular, as we prepare as networks and as individuals to jump off this cliff together into whatever comes next.
Of course, any minute now, the eviction moratoriums may be extended. The mainstream press is full of stories about how the rental assistance is in the pipeline, but it mostly hasn’t yet reached the renters, and more time is needed. More time may be granted, but even if it is, the amount of assistance that’s out there isn’t anything close to what is needed to meet the need, to address a housing crisis that long predates the pandemic, which has been getting exponentially worse for decades.
The housing market is a massive Ponzi scheme, and it is completely unsustainable. This is becoming increasingly mainstream knowledge. What to do about the situation is where opinions start to differ a lot. For some up-to-the-minute thoughts on the housing market Ponzi scheme and where things are headed, check out the latest piece from PEER’s David Rovics in this weekend’s edition of Counterpunch, The Coming Crash (or find it in podcast form by looking up This Week with David Rovics wherever you get your podcasts). Together with Olympia punk band, Virtual Bird, David also wrote a new song on the subject — American Dream Ponzi Scheme (free download).
Memorial Day on Kelly Butte was a lovely little gathering. Check out the PDX Houseless Radicals Collective for future gatherings there and elsewhere in the city, particularly if you want to be involved with the vitally important element of the struggle for housing justice that PDXHRC represents, along with very active networks like Stop the Sweeps PDX.
On Tuesday, June 15th, at 9:30 am at the Multnomah County Circuit Court at 1200 SW 1st Avenue in Portland, there will be an anti-eviction vigil organized by Don’t Evict PDX.
On Tuesday, June 22nd, at 7 pm in Irving Park, Portland Tenants United is having a Renter Town Hall. Get there at 6:30 for pizza and socializing!
Together, we can stop this madness, and take control over the necessity of life for everyone that is housing. We can make housing a right for all, instead of an investment market. It’s the only way forward, for a sane society. Eviction abolition. PEER has new stickers which we can get to you through any number of means if you’d like to help spread the word through that particularly satisfying method. We need to multiply our eviction response team by many times. Send people to abolishevictions.org and tell them to JOIN THE MOB!