I work at Walmart and working in an environment where there are ten of thousands of people a day who could very easily be sick and touching surfaces, coughing, etc. It isn’t fair for me to have to get sick to get paid leave. I have a wife and child like many of my coworkers do and we do not want to spread the virus it to our loved ones because we are forced to go to work or else be fired.

UC Berkeley, the city of Berkeley, and the entire country (not to mention the world) are going through both an economic meltdown and a public health crisis due ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Many tenants - including UC Berkeley students - are unable to pay their rent as a result of the economic meltdown and shelter-in-place order. Furthermore, so many students live paycheck-to-paycheck that they could never afford the added expense of paying backrent. Many of these students also do not have a "non-Berkeley home" they can return to. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has responded by banning evictions (and defaults) in properties secured by Federal Housing Administration-insured (Fannie and Freddie) Single Family mortgages. On March 17, the Berkeley City Council passed an initial moratorium on evictions and suspended rent payments for tenants who been financially impacted by the coronavirus pandemic; the city council is expected to pass additional emergency legislation to strengthen the law to protect Berkeley residents and keep them in their homes. As a state agency, the university is generally exempt from regulations issued by a local government. As a result, the only way to protect students in university housing from evictions and unconscionable rent collections is for the university to voluntarily enact such a policy. Letting homeless and housing-insecure students live for free in otherwise empty university housing would only cost the university little to nothing. Additionally, the fact that the University is allowing students to move-out and receive a pro-rata refund means it is already budgeting for little to no revenue from housing for the remainder of the year. It is therefore clearly within the Univeristy's means to allow students already living in the dorms to not owe rent. Many students cannot simply move-out of the dorms and "go back home." For instance, they may not have another home to return to, may have a Bay Area job they need to support themselves and/or their family and which has not been halted by the pandemic, or their family home may be unsafe (e.g. if they've been rejected by their family for not being cis-hetero or if their family home is physically dangerous). This is literally a matter of life and death. If students are forced out onto the streets - either through a formal eviction or because they decide to move out early in order to avoid back rent they cannot repay, they could catch coronavirus and die, as well as infect other community members.

People losing jobs cannot work

"During the COVID-19 crisis, we all have a responsibility towards our communities to keep ourselves healthy and avoid situations that can spread the virus. As of March 17th, the state of Florida will close all bars, nightclubs, restaurants, and other small businesses in order to help us uphold that responsibility. While this is a step in the right direction regarding health, the effects of these sweeping business closures affect the livelihood of thousands of Florida residents that rely on front-of-the house restaurant, club/bar work or tips to make ends meet. Without a plan in place to supplement the income of these workers, and with no guarantee that unemployment benefits will provide the relief people need in a city with one of the highest costs of living in the country, we demand a moratorium on rent collection. Hard-working people are going to suffer at the expense of the greater good. While we don't deny the importance of instituting these closures, we would be ashamed and heartbroken to watch our government let people who rely on health and wellness care work, restaurant work, work in the entertainment industry (clubs/bars), and other small businesses face evictions, blows to their credit, or be backed into a corner financially through no fault of their own. As a spa business owner and full-time Licensed Massage Therapist, this is my sole source of income. So many other massage practitioners and business owners in the industry, are affected. Simply providing people with an unemployment payment of temporary paid leave at minimum wage would not be enough to cover their typical expenses. We need Broward County and Florida as a whole to put a moratorium on rent NOW in order to preserve the livelihood of so many hard working business owners, healthcare practitioners, and other affected industries during this time of crisis".

People are already living paycheck to paycheck, already struggling to get by in a housing crisis in Walla Walla and across the State. With businesses closing and workers losing their expected income, thousands of Walla Wallans and millions of Washingtonians will be unable to make this month's housing payment. We need the City of Walla Walla and Governor Jay Inslee to take FAST ACTION to STOP EVICTIONS during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Protecting yourself from a pandemic shouldn’t depend on where you live or the kind of job you have. We have the resources to help everybody through this crisis. All leaders need to step up and do what they can NOW. Don’t wait for others to lead. Do what YOU can do NOW.

Most people live by their budget and soaring prices for rent and mortgages make housing the biggest cost. This is unsustainable in this crisis when all we have is our retirement checks some have their children helping them before this even happen. and so many people live from paycheck to paycheck. As a group, the working-class of Florida have been financially crippled by the critical and necessary measures put in place to slow the spread of coronavirus. Though the federal or state government may eventually provide relief, the immediate conservation of our limited financial resources are necessary for our own and our family's health and well being. Renters, lessors, banks and other relevant institutions can, as a class seek their own relief; the state and the federal government are much more responsive and historically more likely to act on their behalf. We must protect our limited cash flow, ensure people can keep their homes, and protect credit ratings immediately.

This is important because we, as a grocery store clerks warehouse workers, and anything to do with keeping Mothers Market open, stocked, clean, calm, and ready for our customers every single day from 7 AM to 10 PM during working hours, as well as everyone who works overnight and overtime because of this COVID 19 pandemic deserve hazard pay. This is an unprecedented time and we are exposing ourselves and our families to this deadly virus. It is important to keep ourselves , our families, and our communities safe, healthy, calm and well-nourished during this pandemic.

The Coronavirus pandemic is a health crisis like we have never seen before, and it is colliding with the economic crisis of this generation - student loan debt. Lost wages and medical costs will impact families across the country for weeks, months, and years to come. Adding the persistent burden of student debt is a recipe for an economic disaster for millions of everyday people. Labor shocks like those the pandemic are likely to cause will undoubtedly increase federal student loan defaults. Borrowers in default on federal student loans face having their tax refunds seized and wages garnished at a time when they can least afford it. We also call on lawmakers to immediately stop these actions that hit distressed borrowers the most. Canceling student debt in response to the Coronavirus crisis will help the 45 million people with student loans and stimulate the economy when it is needed most. It will allow borrowers to purchase the necessities their families depend on: food on their table, a roof over their head, and critical healthcare. In the long term, a student debt cancellation stimulus would help prevent or reduce the impacts of an upcoming recession. Student debt cancellation can boost GDP by up to $108 billion a year and would add up to 1.5 million jobs per year.

We cannot return to normal. Addressing the depth of the crises that have been revealed in this pandemic means enacting universal health care, expanding social welfare programs, ensuring access to water and sanitation, cash assistance to poor and low income families, good jobs, living wages and an annual income and protecting our democracy. It means ensuring that our abundant national resources are used for the general welfare, instead of war, walls, and the wealthy. We also call on you to immediately enact our Moral Policy Agenda to Heal America: The Poor People's Jubilee Platform to fully address the COVID-19 outbreak and the underlying crises of poverty and inequality that made so many vulnerable right now. Read more here: bit.ly/ppcjubilee WE DEMAND THAT YOU INCLUDE: 1. Immediate, comprehensive and permanent paid sick leave for 100% of employees for this pandemic. Paid sick leave must become standard across all sectors of the labor market. 2. Immediate health care for all, including 100% free COVID-19 testing, treatment and quality care to all, regardless of income, age, disability, citizenship or any other factor, and including the uninsured. 3. A permanent guaranteed and adequate annual income/universal income, including rapid, direct payments to all low-wage and temporary workers for the duration of this crisis. This also includes living wages and hazard pay. 4. A national moratorium on evictions, tax foreclosures, rent hikes, and a national rent freeze. This includes an immediate halt to encampment sweeps and towing vehicles of unhoused communities. Federal resources must be directed to local and state governments towards opening and preparing vacant and habitable buildings, properties and warehouses to house and provide adequate care for all people who are homeless, including ensuring education, food assistance and health care for homeless children and provisions for medical testing, treatment and respite for the homeless. 5. Jubilee and debt forgiveness for medical debt, student debt, water, utilities and other forms of household debt. 6. Protections for our democracy and the right to vote with expanded opportunities to vote during this crisis, including the full funding of the U.S. Postal Service protection of vote by mail in every state, and an expanded census to ensure every person is accounted for. WE ALSO DEMAND: 1. A national moratorium on water and utility shut-offs, a waiver of all late-payment charges, and reinstitution of any services that have already been cut off due to nonpayment, including access to cellular and internet service. We demand policies that establish affordability-based plans for water and other utility services. 2. Expansion of resources and funding for FEMA and the EPA to ensure access to emergency care and clean air, water and land for all. 3. Ending work requirements on all federal benefits, including SNAP and Medicaid. 4. Resources to keep all rural hospitals and community health centers open, and an infusion of resources to Indian Health Services. 5. Permanent protections for social security, Medicare and Medicaid. 6. Emergency OSHA standards for health care workers, first responders and anyone else in frontline positions. 7. Protections for people in mental health facilities, prisons and juvenile detention centers, especially supplies, personnel, testing and treatment. This includes the release of all at risk populations and non-violent offenders and detainees. 8. Suspension of all CBP and ICE enforcement and ensuring all emergency provisions are made available to immigrants, including undocumented people. 9. Increased support for public schools to provide continuous, equitable and quality remote learning access for the duration of any school closures, including for children with disabilities, and for schools to continue to provide social services for qualifying children and families. 10. Lifting all military and economic sanctions, ending unnecessary military operations overseas and bringing our troops home. 11. Measures to ensure that nobody — no individual or corporation or financial interest — profits off this public health crisis by making vaccines and treatments affordable and/or free for those who cannot afford the costs. We also call on you to immediately enact the demands of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Read them here: bit.ly/PPCDemands Before COVID-19, nearly 700 people died everyday because of poverty and inequality in this country. The frontlines of this pandemic will be the poor and dispossessed - those who do not have access to healthcare, housing, water, decent wages, stable work or child care - and those who are continuing to work in this crisis, meeting our health care and other needs. It should not have taken a pandemic to raise these resources. In June 2019, we presented a Poor People’s Moral Budget to the House Budget Committee, showing that we can meet these needs for this entire country. If you had taken up this Moral Budget, we would have already moved towards infusing more than $1.2 trillion into the economy to invest in health care, good jobs, living wages, housing, water and sanitation services and more. This is not the time for trickle-down solutions. We know that when you lift from the bottom, everybody rises. There are concrete solutions to this immediate crisis and the longer term illnesses we have been battling for months, years and decades before. We will continue to organize and build power until you meet these demands. Many millions of us have been hurting for far too long. We will not be silent anymore. Rev. Dr. William Barber, II Co-Chair, The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival and President, Repairers of the Breach Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Co-Chair, The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival and Director, Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice

This financial cushion could be the difference between mom and pop shops disappearing or surviving the pandemic. Now is the time to show your support for small businesses who don’t have the resources to sustain themselves during a closure or even partial closure. Allow us to use our collected sales tax to take care of us and ours while preventing further transmission of this virus. We are the lifeblood of New York communities. Keep us alive.

People’s lives are at risk!!