Yet with the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread unemployment, as many as 40 million people nationwide face eviction due to inability to pay rent. Millions more are likely taking on unsustainable debt, dipping into savings, or cutting food and medications to make rent. At the same time, in recent decades Wall Street speculators and corporate landlords have jacked up housing costs, subjecting residents to rent gouging, instability, and unsafe conditions, while pocketing runaway profits. The largest corporate landlords are not only thriving, but reaped at least $470 billion in recent tax breaks and giveaways, including over $170 billion through the CARES Act.

We urgently need a more just and sustainable housing system, starting with federal action to make housing policy central to any COVID-19 relief package. Download our brief to learn more about our federal demands.