Big rally in Columbia Heights demands cancellation of rent over COVID-19

On the afternoon of July 26, a big crowd gathered in Columbia Heights to demand that the DC City Council and/or landlords cancel all rent owed by tenants for the months affected by COVID-19. Landlords of course should be free to refuse to pay their mortages for the same reason, and if that takes down the banks bailing out depositors directly doesn't let the rich divert the money to their own pockets.

Back in April, tenants in one Northern Virginia building announced they were going on rent strike because the COVID shutdown had left them unemployed. Their landlord said no problem, he would not pay the mortgage, effectively joining the rent strike himself to applause from many. Now of course, DC is about to start evictions back up, creating the danger of a tidal wave of evictions and an explosive growth of homelessness while the pandemic continues to burn.