From Smart Cities Dive May 2020 – Local officials from Seattle to Philadelphia are urging state and federal leaders to offer rent relief and protection for the country’s tens of millions of renters during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The call to action comes as 30 million people have filed for unemployment in just six weeks, with some experts estimating that number is an undercount. During a recent Local Progress press conference, leaders called on Congress to cancel rent and mortgage payments, and invest in affordable housing, to help ease financial burdens for those millions of Americans.