We have renters who are now having a hard time and my brother and I decided to waive their rent for the next two months, even though it will cost us. It can be done.

This got more of a response than I expected.

Some helpful framing: Banks hold payments for companies all the time. It's time to do it for ppl. If you hold a mortgage, negotiate with the lender. If they won't, find a political official who can exert some pressure.

As far as mortgages go, it takes collective action to get banks to change. One person yelling won't really work. Find other mortgage-holders, reach out to elected officials, and force banks to reckon with this. It's a national financial crisis.

Co-ops are a completely different situation because this is the risk you take as a shareholder. But even then, perhaps there could be a board meeting and discussion as this crisis deepens.

The point is, people do not have money. Insisting they pay you won't work. Pressure a bank instead of a hardworking family.

It is, on some level, bonkers that the American expectation is that you have to push down (on renters) instead of pushing up (on banks/institutions.) The plutocracy is deep in the soul of this country. Pushing up is how you get structural change so this BS doesn't happen again.