COVID-19 Housing Protection Legislation & Housing Justice Action Map
In a time of turmoil and uncertainty for many tenants, knowledge about rights and protections is crucial for staying housed and safe during the global pandemic. Released in April by the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project (AEMP), COVID-19 Housing Protection Legislation & Housing Justice Action Map is an interactive tool to track emergency responses — public policy as well as rent strikes and housing justice campaigns — arising around the world in the wake of COVID-19. The map also tracks policies that have expired or lapsed as state-of-emergencies are lifted, generally correlating with increased evictions.
To better convey information that could keep countless households afloat during this crisis, AEMP has developed a policy scoring system aimed to evaluate tenant protections enacted by states and local governments in the US. Our non-US data is being manually scored by community partners active in various countries and regions, as we know that there is no way to universalize land and housing histories, action, and legislation. We are also currently working on internationalization that includes localization and translation features, which we will be implementing soon. The US-based scoring is informed by AEMP’s research and crowdsourced information on hundreds of COVID-19 tenant protections from city, county, and statewide emergency ordinances, declarations, and legislation.
This map is a collective effort supported by folks all over the world who are contributing updates about tenant protections or housing justice actions in their region. Viewers can use one of two forms to either add information about a tenant protection policy in their respective city, county, or state, or about a housing justice action (ie rent strike) that they are a part of. Please share our map with your networks, and encourage folks to contribute any rent strikes or emergency protections as they develop, along with policies as they expire. This map relies upon your contributions in order to stay up to date! If a more local version of this tool would be useful to you, please contact us at antievictionmap@riseup.net.
While the AEMP maintains close relationships with a number of tenant organizations and networks, this development of this map has in particular relied upon collaboration with the Mapping Action Collective, Tenants Together, the San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition, Alex Werth from East Bay Housing Organizations, Community Justice Project, Dr. Emily Benfer, and Bay Area Rent Strike (BARS) organizers, as well as assistance in international research from our friends at kollektiv orangotango and the European Action Coalition for the Right to Housing. We are grateful for consultation from Right To The City Alliance, Policy Link, Dr. Lisa Bates, and John Pollock from Public Justice, Greg Townley from the Homelessness Research Action Collaborative, Leeor Schwitzer from Portland Tenants United, and Tony Lamb from Climate and Anti-Displacement Planner at City of Portland.
We still have many new features that we’re planning on rolling out, so look out for updates!
Landlord Responses to COVID-19
As part of our ongoing work to document tenant experiences and stories around gentrification, displacement, and resistance, AEMP is collecting tenant-landlord communication during the COVID-19 crisis here. In collaboration with The Center for Critical Internet Inquiry at UCLA, we hope to show the global and local impacts of COVID-19 that unequally impact tenants. If landlords have harassed, intimidated, or threatened folks because of COVID-19, we want to know. Individuals can submit correspondence with their landlord, and potentially connect with fellow tenants. The form allows users to opt in to further communication regarding resources on tenant protections and/or rent strikes.
