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Good morning. Yesterday a woman named Jennifer called me. She told me that she had texted her landlord about an electrical issue for months, he ignored her. This weekend her house burned down. Jennifer and her family are now paying out of pocket to live in an extended stay hotel.
Just a reminder that the vast failures of our housing system don't begin and end with COVID, and it's not always about the rent.
It's about power. In an entrenched expression of racial capitalism, owners maintain ultimate control over tenants' lives and most basic needs.
It's about power. In an entrenched expression of racial capitalism, owners maintain ultimate control over tenants' lives and most basic needs.
Landlords ignore tenants' texts all the time. It's a relatively small abuse of power, but it adds up, and sometimes to horrible consequence, like in Jennifer's case. She may find recourse, now that all her things have burned. But where was her recourse when she was being ghosted?
In big and little ways, our current system prioritizes owners' profits, properties, time, humanity over their tenants.
To be a tenant is to be constantly reminded that your home is someone else's asset, that your life is a line item in your landlords' balance sheet.
To be a tenant is to be constantly reminded that your home is someone else's asset, that your life is a line item in your landlords' balance sheet.
