Alexandria is providing the community with more funds to apply for emergency rent assistance.

On July 10, the city announced that it is prioritizing $450,000 from the Virginia Rent and Mortgage Relief Program for residents primarily living at or below 50% of the area median income up until July 20. After that time, households making 80% of AMI will be included.

“In addition, households with an unlawful detainer action dated before June 8 will be given top consideration,” notes a city release. “Tenants and homeowners are encouraged to know their rights and responsibilities and pay their rent and mortgages on time if they are able.”

According to the city, the new funds are “in addition to the $4 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds being distributed through the Emergency Rent Relief Assistance Program and $671,500 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds for tenants of affordable housing, both administered by the City’s Office of Housing.”

The governor’s moratorium on rent evictions expired last month, and there have been protests to cancel rents and extend the moratorium throughout the city since the pandemic hit Alexandria. There is another protest scheduled today (Wednesday) at noon at the Alexandria courthouse organized by residents of Southern Towers and the Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America.

The city has acknowledged that the pandemic has disproportionately impacted communities of color, which will be prioritized with the rent relief.

Residents should take a self-assessment survey to see if they qualify, and then call 703-746-5700 to apply.

Staff photo by James Cullum

Alexandria’s poorest neighborhoods have been hardest hit by COVID-19, and renters from Arlandria and the West End rallied in front of the city’s courthouse today (July 1) to ask Governor Ralph Northam to extend the moratorium on evictions, which expired on June 28.

Sami Bourma lives in the Southern Towers apartment complex in the West End, and has not paid rent since March. He has two children, his wife is four months pregnant, and he has been unable to work as an Uber driver. He’s also an organizer with UNITE HERE Local 23, which represents some residents in the buildings.

“There are hundreds of people who live at Southern Towers and a lot of them are like me,” Bourma told ALXnow. “I am getting $750 a month for unemployment. That pays for almost nothing and we need to survive.”

The areas of the city with the leading number of cases are the 22304 and 22305 ZIP codes, which include the West End and Arlandria, Potomac Yard and Potomac West neighborhoods, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

Northam has requested that the moratorium be extended to July 20 — a move that Mayor Justin Wilson supports.

New Virginia Majority organizer Thomas Assefa said that his organization is also calling on Northam to approve $1 billion to fully fund an eviction protection program.

“Housing is a human right,” Assefa said. “We know that sheltering in place and staying in our home is one of the only ways we can combat this disease, and we are anticipating hundreds of thousands of tenants in the streets in the middle of a pandemic. There’s about 3 million renters in Virginia, and we anticipate 11% of that population could face massive evictions.That’s what’s at stake.”

Jonathan Krall, the co-founder of Grassroots Alexandria, said that it’s an issue of fairness and race.

“Racism results in economic inequality,” Krall said. “If you want to be anti-racist, then you need to cancel the rent.”

Frank Fannon, a former Republican city councilman, is a landlord and said that the governor should not extend the deadline and that there have been no waivers for commercial or residential property owners in their property tax bills, which the city mailed out last week.

“If you feel it is appropriate for tenants not to pay rent to your constituents, then be equitable and at least waive the late fees if property owners cannot pay their tax bill on time,” Fannon wrote to the City Council on July 1.

Wilson thanked Fannon for the email and responded that the property taxes are too important a revenue stream and that extending the deadline could endanger the city’s credit rating.

“It’s not something that we can play with unfortunately,” Wilson said. “That being said, our Finance folks are exercising maximum flexibility with tax payers right now. A taxpayer that contacts Finance will be extended payment terms, etc, upon request.”

Staff photos by James Cullum

Alexandria Police Chief Michael Brown joined demonstrators on Tuesday night as they chanted “Black lives matter” outside the city’s police headquarters on Tuesday night.

“We’re here today because we are in grief,” a protestor said. “We are grieving for the many, many black people who are killed because of racist police violence.”

Brown has been participating in a number of forums and recently wrote an open letter to the community on the death of George Floyd. The scene lasted for more than an hour.

“Even as good as we think we are, we know we can always improve and there are some things we learn from this through listening,” Brown told ALXnow.

Former Mayor Bill Euille said that the city has come a long way, but that there is still more work to do.

“We’ve progressed, but there’s always opportunities to continue the fight the battle,” Euille said. “It takes a whole community to be engaged and involved, and we just have to keep the dialogue going. A movement like this is a good strong signal that we’re moving in the right direction. Large numbers of concerned citizens make a difference. And that’s why it’s so important for folks to be engaged in the voting process and electing the right leaders. “

There was also a demonstration at the Southern Towers apartment complex on Wednesday morning. The  demonstration was initially about rent, but due to circumstances around the country was switched to focus on police inequality.

“The lives that have been lost are important. Our lives and George Floyd’s life matter, and that’s why we’re here today,” Josh Armistead, vice president of the Unite Here local 23 union. “Black lives matter, and workers’ and labor rights matter.”

Staff photos by James Cullum

A pair of strikes filled the streets outside Southern Towers late last month and on May 1, but despite some extended support for renters out of the job due to COVID-19, those who helped stage the earlier protests said the fight to stop rent from being charged to those without a job will continue to go on.

“Bell Partners has extended its previously-announced measures to help residents financially impacted by COVID-19 into May,” a spokesman for Bell Partners, which operates Southern Towers, said. “The due date for May rent has been pushed back to May 20 and late fees have been waived.”

Organizers of the earlier protests said the second rally was larger than the first and carried over into a protest concerning another building with the same property owner.

“The last action that residents took was on Friday, May 1,” said Sarah Jacobson, lead organizer with UNITE HERE Local 23, a regional union that represents some residents in the building. “[It was] a car rally that included probably twice as many residents as at their first car rally held on April 20.  That action also involved tenants at another building, Dominion in Alexandria, that is also operated by Bell Partners and owned by Snell Properties (the same owner and operator structure as at Southern Towers).”

Jacobson recognized that Bell Partners has extended the late fees each month, but said deferred payment is still expected over a six-month period. The Alexandria City Council warned in an earlier meeting that many residents that are currently out of jobs could face difficulties over the next months finding new jobs as the economy slowly reopens. These residents would be saddled with not only paying ongoing rent but paying rent for months when they were unable to work.

“A recent Vox news article estimated that 70% of jobless Americans did not receive unemployment benefits in March,” Jacobson said. “I estimate that this number is both higher among Southern Towers residents and also remains true in April, as so many workers are gig workers for whom the [Virginia Employment Commission] has not begun to approve benefits.  This makes the prospect of paying 25% of rent in April, and then 25% (for May rent) + 15% (for April rent) in May under Bell’s proposal completely untenable for families without any income at all since the second week of March.”

The City Council approved some rent assistance for those living in committed affordable units, which does little to help most residents at Southern Towers, but the city is also looking at implementing a larger program to help low-income residents with rent city-wide.

Jacobson said Southern Towers residents are continuing to organize for rent relief and are currently reaching out to residents of other Bell Properties to build a larger coalition.

Staff photo by Jay Westcott

Updated 4:40 p.m. — Adhering to proper social distancing protocol, tenants and other supporters rallied outside of Southern Towers in cars making slow circles through the parking lot with signs and chants of “No pay! No Rent!” and “No job! No Rent!”

“How are people going to be able to make a rent deferral plan work?” asked Sarah Jacobson, organizing director for UNITE HERE Local 23 DC, a food service workers union operating out of D.C. “Even if people went back to 100% employment tomorrow, that would be challenging. Uber drivers won’t be getting the kind of pay they had before.”

The strike, and other types of protest, had been talked about for weeks — from the hallways of Southern Towers to the City Council chambers. At 10 a.m. today (Monday), a handful of protestors took to the sidewalks outside the building while dozens of others drove in circles around the property with blinkers on and signs displayed. The protest lasted until around noon.

Southern Towers is a large residential complex in the West End, where many of the residents are local service industry workers laid off during the shutdown. Several of the cars in the protest were taxi cabs and many of the signs were written in both English and Amharic. Without pay, some of the residents say they are unable to pay their rent. While city staff said Bell Partners, the property manager of Southern Towers, has offered a deferred payment plan to residents currently unable to make rent payments, some on the City Council and others in the community have been critical of this approach and said residents are unlikely to be able to pay back a deferred rent.

Some in the city had been critical outside elements helping to organize the strike, but during a City Council meeting City Councilman Canek Aguirre said many of the residents of the building were members of that union, which stepped in because Virginia does not allow unions. Jacobson said her organization’s role was providing infrastructure support for tenants, who were leading the protests.

“Tenants chose today because that’s the deadline that Bell Partners had made for people to pay their rent or make a rent deferral plan,” Jacobson said. “It’s not because people are willfully trying to not pay the landlord, people don’t have money and it’s illustrating a problem where wages and rents do not match in this region.”

Helen McIlvaine, director of the Office of Housing, noted that this was consistent with what Mayor Justin Wilson had asked property owners to do in a letter last month. Jacobson argued that Bell Partners is a nationwide investment company

“Bell Partners is a private equity company — this is an example of a company that is able to respond to these tenant demands,” Jacobson said. “It is going to take a complex solution to respond to this crisis in a way where the entire burden doesn’t fall on low wage workers without savings or essential workers most exposed.”

Jacobson said tenants are meeting again tomorrow (Tuesday) and planning a similar action on May 1.

In a letter to residents, Bell Partners said late fees for rent would be waived if paid by today.

“Payment plan options will be available for April and May, with proof of hardship (i.e. documentation of unemployment benefit or written statement from your employer),” Bell Partners said.

For those who can’t pay rent or afford a payment plan, Bell Partners told them to reach out to Alexandria’s Office of Housing’s Landlord and Tenant Division at 703-746-3078.

Staff photos by Jay Westcott

The Alexandria City Council unanimously approved Councilman Canek Aguirre’s call for a rent freeze at its meeting this week.

The resolution calls on state and federal officials to put a potential moratorium on rents and mortgages and to suspend the reporting of negative credit information by credit bureaus to protect people’s credit scores.

Aguirre’s resolution is partly fueled by a potential rent strike at Southern Towers, a large apartment complex that houses many service industry workers who have been laid off during the pandemic. City staff, however, said that reports of Southern Towers being inflexible on rents may have been exacerbated by miscommunication.

“Now, working off info we’ve been given, apparently there’s an organization in D.C. that is encouraging folks to strike against rent,” Deputy City Manager Debra Collins said. “We’re actively telling people, ‘No, go to your property manager. They’re willing to work with you.'”

Organizations like Unite Here Local 23 and African Communities Together have helped circulate a petition through the building, WAMU reported, and Collins said the city wanted to make sure deliberate misinformation wasn’t being spread.

City staff said that Southern Towers has been trying to work with residents and that, if they can’t pay their rent, they can work out a several month payment plan. Helen McIlvaine, director of the Office of Housing, noted that this was consistent with what Mayor Justin Wilson had asked property owners to do in a letter last month.

McIlvaine said that some of the confusion and concerns had been caused by an automatically generated email reminding residents to pay their rent. Read More

While residents at Southern Towers are preparing to strike, city leadership is caught in the middle of trying to negotiate a ceasefire before things escalate.

Residents at the West End apartment complex, many of whom have service industry jobs and were recently laid off due to the pandemic, have begun organizing for a strike wherein they refuse to pay their rent, WAMU first reported.

In a petition circulating around the buildings, organizers say rent should be cancelled during the duration of the emergency while the residents cannot work, plus one month as many of them get back on their feet and try to find new jobs. The petition demanded that property management meet with a committee of tenants and fix the safety and sanitary issues in the building. Lastly, residents said future rent at the building should be based on the income of the residents.

Councilman Canek Aguirre, who on the City Council has frequently advocated for lower-income families throughout the West End and areas like Arlandria, said he met with residents last week in a Zoom call.

Aguirre said resident concerns go beyond just problems with rent.

“Residents are concerned about the accumulation of trash,” Aguirre said. “Everybody is staying home and producing trash, but cutes either closed or compactors broken. So they’re putting trash in the hallways.”

The difficulties due to the stay at home order go both ways, Aguirre noted, with management trying to pick up trash daily, but they too are “having issues with stay at home orders.” To fix the trash compactors, for instance, Aguirre said the company is waiting on parts that are still being held up.

“You throw on top of that people’s concerns, fears and anxieties [about rent]… and there were mixed messages from email communications from management trying to clarify that,” Aguirre said. “They’re switching to a full online payment system, but we have to be cognizant of the digital divide. There are individuals who aren’t able to pay bills online. It’s one thing after another.” Read More