Angelenos: We need you right now

by | Apr 13, 2020 | California, JCJ Blog, Judaism

The LA County Board of Supervisors is meeting tomorrow morning, Tuesday, April 14, and we need to urge them to support the Healthy LA platform to ensure the safety and well-being of the 10 million people who call LA home. Two weeks ago, the same Board voted to provide more protections for vulnerable renters, homeowners, workers and people who are incarcerated. Now, we need them to build on those steps to protect our communities.
 
As part of the 275+ member Healthy LA network, JCJ is urging as many people as possible to make ANOTHER call to urge the Board to further enact vital measures to support our friends, neighbors, co-workers, and communities.
Feel free to use the sample call script below. Find your Supervisor at www.healthyla.org/county/.
Hello, my name is [your name] and I am your constituent from [your city].

I’m calling to ask [Supervisor’s name] to support the Healthy LA platform during the COVID-19 crisis. I want to thank you for supporting so many of our proposals over the last two weeks. Now we need to take the next step in protecting the health and livelihoods of our families and vulnerable community members.

For tomorrow’s meeting, I’m asking the Supervisor to strengthen the eviction moratorium countywide, compel rent and mortgage forgiveness, work with CBOs to create assistance programs for small businesses, provide 80 hours of paid sick leave to workers in companies with more than 500 employees, and use hotel rooms to provide safe shelter for unhoused people.

In particular, I hope the Supervisors will:

1) Expand the eviction moratorium to all cities in LA County without exception while allowing cities to go further, enable tenants to self-certify their inability to pay rent, and create stronger financial penalties for landlords who harass tenants.

2) Create a comprehensive mortgage forbearance and rent forgiveness program, so homeowners are protected from losing their homes and tenants get the benefit of the mortgage relief that landlords are already getting. Rental assistance cannot possibly reach everyone. Without rent forgiveness, we’ll see a flood of evictions resulting in catastrophic increases in homelessness as soon as the emergency is lifted. At a minimum, we should allow at least 24 months for repayment of back rent and prohibit back-rent from being used as grounds for eviction.

3) Expand small business programs in a way that relies on CBOs to design and implement the Relief Fund and Business Assistance Program so that small business owners get help quickly and equitably, and ensure small business tenants are protected from evictions.

4) Require 80 hours of paid sick leave for all workers in companies with more than 500 employees and offer protections for hospitality and building service workers so they can return to work.

5) Use hotel rooms to house all Angelenos experiencing homelessness and create neighborhood supply stations for those who remain unsheltered.

The Jewish Center for Justice community thanks you for everything you are doing to help your fellow community members during these challenging times!