Housing Woes

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Hello Everyone:

Moderna Biotech
ft.com

Welcome to another surreal week.  Some good news to report: There may be a vaccine on the horizon.    Moderna, the Massachusetts-based biotech company, has begun the first round of human trials for the COVID-19 vaccine.  Moderna is working with the National  Institute of Health to develop a vaccine, known as mRNA-1273, that already has shown promise.  Forty-five patients participated phase one of the trials, conducted at a Kaiser Permenante Washington facility in Seattle.  Each of the patient developed virus fighting antibodies, fueling enthusisam that a safe an effective vaccine could be made available soon.  Now this is something to be happy about.  Being unable to pay the rent  or mortgage is not something to be happy about.

if you are one of the millions of Americans who have been furloughed or laid off because of the virus, paying the rent or mortgage is impossible and not every bank, landlord, and management company is that sympathetic.  Some states and cities, such as Los Angeles, California, have enacted eviction moratoriums that forbid landlords and management companies from evicting renters who cannot pay the rent because they are out of work because of the virus.  However, the big question is what happens after the crisis abates and people can safely return to work? Today, we are going to take a look at what is behind the cancel the rent movement and what, if any, are the solutions.

rollingstone.com

Rhetorical question, which is more important: food, medication, or paying $1700 a month on an apartment in Flatbush, Brooklyn?  The answer for Donette Leftford, a working mother of three and owner of a small housekeeping business, the answer is all three.  Ms. Leftford earns an average of $408 a week, when her company was open and rent is not her family's only expense.  She told The Atlantic,

Medication is important to me.  Food is important. Rent is important,... I just do the math.  There is no way I can pay rent (theatlantic.com; May 2, 2020; date May 18, 2020).

On May 1st, May Day, Ms. Leftford and millions of Americans failed to pay the rent, in full, on time.  Most failed to make the rent on time or in full out of necessity, unable to come up with the funds.  There were others that failed to make the rent out of solidarity with the nearly one-third of renters who failed to make the April rent when the economy was in better health.

daily.jstor.org

Over the last month, organizers in New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, and elsewhere have coordinated possibly the biggest rent strike in American history,  Annie Lowrey reports, "Nearly 200,000 tenants have stopped paying rent and are voicing their demands for rent forgiveness to landlords, politicians, and the media.  It's not just that they can't pay.  It's just that they won't" (theatlantic.com; May 2, 2020).  The goal of their actions is to spur state and federal lawmakers into action to halt the evictions and provide rent relief.  Strike organizer and housing activist Cea Weaver told The Atlantic,

We've been saying in the housing-justic movement, 'We're just one paycheck away from eviction,...It's true.  And now everybody knows that it's true (Ibid)

Federal lawmakers, like Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN), are paying attention.  Rep. Omar has introduced a bill "that would cancel rent and mortgage payments for the duration of the crisis; the congressional rescue bill suspended evictions for federally backed rentals,..." (theatlantic.com; May 2, 2020).  Cancelling the rent sounds like a radical notion but it would help low-income families stay solvent, stabilize the housing market, and reduce the severity of the recession.  In one respect, cancelling the rent and mortgage, as radical as it sounds, may be a too modest demand.  Ms. Lowrey writes, "This is asudden housing crisis that has collided with a slow-boiling, structural housing crisis.  Even before the viral recession hit, high housing costs were leading to homelessness, long commute times, food insecurity, and diminished household savings" (Ibid).  In short, "the rent's too damn high" and government needs to do something about.  Rent strikes are only the beginning.

populardemocracy.org

United for a New Economy is a nonprofit organization that is working to cancel the rent in state of Colorado.  Laura Rodriguez, a renter in Aurora and activist, explained the group's demands to CityLab,

I would like for [Colorado Governor Jared] Polis to be bold.  Stop evictions, the foreclosures, stop the rent increases, and late fees and disconnection of utilities,... To stop all that, to be able to get back on our feet, at least until this pandemic is over (citylab.com; Apr. 29, 2020; date accessed May 17, 2020)

Laura Rodriguez and her family are currently sheltering in place.  Her husband operates the family's small business, he is a painter, usually a subcontractor.  The company owes him payment for some recent jobs however the office is closed and the check has not come as well as the federal aid (Ibid).  Instead,

We've got two disconnection notices already,... We did pay April's rent, but I'm not sure what's going to happen with May and whatever other months we still have to cover until the pandemic is under control and we can actually go back to work (Ibid).

ourhomesourhealth.org

United for a New Economy is part of a grassroots initiative to compel lawmakers, at all levels of government, to level off rents nows.  This is part of a newly launched national effort, under the banner Our Homes, Our Health, bring "together housing groups, community organizers and tenant advocages to convince federal, state and local lawmakers to to suspend all rent and mortgage payments during the pandemic" (citylab.com; Apr. 29, 2020).  "No other approach will work," (Ibid) say advocates with the National Housing Justice Grassroots Table, a coalition that included the Center for Popular Democracy, People's Action, Partnership for Working Families, and Right to the City Alliance.  Both Representatives Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) support the movement.  Our Homes, Our Health are looking toward the post-pandemic future.

socialistalternative.org

The men and women behind Our Homes, Our Health are vigorously advocating to make rents more equitable once it is safe to go outside again.  Policy Link senior associate Chris Schildt told CityLab writer Kriston Capps,

Going back to the status quo of how things were working before the pandemic is not a solution for a lot of low-income familes and people of color,... The status quo was a perennial crisis (Ibid)

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The organization combines both longtime left-wing policy goals, pushing for social housing with safeguards specific to the COVID-19 crisis.  The pandemic specific measures include the cancellation of rent on all manner of rental units and expanding emergency shelter options for homeless men and women,  Once the initial crisis eases, their goals are a moratorium on rent increases and other rent control policies.  Another goal is tenants' ability to (annually?) renew their leases.  Many of their agenda items are in line with Eviction Lab's Covid-19 Housing Policy Scorecard.

Eviction Lab Scorecard
evictionlab.org

Princeton University's Eviction Lab is home to the first nationwide database of evictions (evictionlab.org; date accessed May 20, 2020).  Eviction Lab ranks Colorado among the worst in terms of eviction protections.  United for a New Economy activist Laura Rodriguez lamented,

As soon as this pandemic stops, these people [who receive eviction notices] are still going to get evicted,... In fact, it could happen much sooner (citylab.com; Apr. 29, 2020).

Our Homes, Our Health long term agenda "recommends a mix of existing tenant protections (such as just-cause evictions and a right to eviction counsel) plus deeper structural changes (requiring or persuading banks and landlords to sell foreclosed properties to community trusts)" (Ibid).  Mr. Capps observes, "A few of the proposals enter the range of the fantastical--such as using eminent domain to 'target AirBnbs, luxury housing, and corporate landlords" (Ibid).  Yours Truly agrees with Mr. Capps' observations however finds merit with just-cause evictions, the right to eviction counsel, and selling foreclosed properties to community trusts.  Another viable option is renting homes, on the brink of foreclosure, back to their owners.

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Our Homes, Our Health concides the strain on landlords, the majority of whom are small mom-and-pop operations that work on slim margins.  The organization calls on state and federal lawmakers to forgive rents and forebear mortgage payments (citylab.com; Apr. 29, 2020).  Kriston Capps admits, "While this strategy could have unpredictable consequences for the banking system, the Federal Reserve has already promised to backstop mortgage-back bonds.  The campaign's platform describes a host of policies--Buy Outs Not Bailouts (citylab.com; Apr. 29, 2020)--"to purchase distressed properties from landlords and transfer their ownership to public entities.  The idea is to make social housing, not corporate speculation, the most likely outcome of coronavirus-related market chaos" (Ibid).

Other housing professionals have suggested "that the best way to avoid any potentially disastrous unintended consequences to to keep money flowing through the system--to have government provide relief to renters, who in turn lift up landlords, banks bond-holders, and other pillars of the economy simply by paying the rent" (Ibid).  However socialist organizers who dream of decommodifying the housing market are more incline to view the pandemic crisis as "an opportunity for creative destruction--a ladder out of the chaos that both rescues tenants and fundamentally changes their disposition" (citylab.com; Apr. 29, 2020).

newyorker.com

Typically, keeping the money flowing through the system is crucial to keeping any economy in good health but we are not living in typical times at the moment.  As of writing, "...thirty-three million people have for unemployment, and the future of millions more hangs in the balance.  April's unemployment rate was nearly fifteen per cent" (newyorker.com; May 12, 2020; date accessed May 20, 2020).  Unemployment prospects look grim, "The Congressional Budget Office has projected that by the fall, the official unemployment rate could rise even higher, to sixteen per cent (newyorker.com; May 12, 2020).  Thus, keeping the money flowing through the system in the traditional way no longer works.  The threadbare social safety net: unemployment, assistance, Medicaid, or cash assistance for food can mean the difference between destitution and keeping one's head above water but there is little, if any, in the way of programs for emergency shelter.  For example, last month the Chicago Department of Housing offered a one-time-only thousand dollar grant to two thousand resident who need help with the rent; the agency was flooded with 83,000 applications within five-days (newyorker.com; May 12, 2020).

The twin crisis of stagnant wages and escalating rents predate the pandemic.  "Forty-seven per cent of renter households in the U.S. were already 'cost-burdened,' meaning that they pay at least thirty per cent of their income in rent" (Ibid).  Further, twenty-five percent of renter are "severly" cost-burdened, meaning half their income goes toward housing costs (Ibid).  This burden is particulaly accute in working-class or low-income communities.  The real estate market likes to pat itself on the back over being a "race-neutral space, guided only by supply and demand, but more than a century of racial discrimination and residential segregation, rooted in the government-inspired perceptions that African-Americans poses an existential threat to property values,..." (Ibid).

Historically, low-cost housing were a working-class family's entry point to homeownership.  Many of the properties have been converted to rental properties, limiting the means to attain a valuable wealth-building asset.  Thus, African-American and LatinX families are particularly vulnerable to the flucuating rental market or nefarious landlands.

The point Yours Truly is trying to make is that the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the systemic inequities in the housing market.  The rent strikes and piecemeal actions by federal and state lawmakers address the immediate need to keep individuals and families sheltered.  It has also called attention to the dire need for more long-term policy solution are necessary.  Targeting AirBnbs, luxury developments, and corporate property managements work to a point but more pragmatic solutions are required.  The solutions are out there and certainly selling foreclosed propety to a community land trust is a good remedy.  Mortgage and rent assistance grants do not reach everyone, especially small business owners and those in dire need.  In order to pull ourselves out of the pandemic morass, re-stablize the economy and by extention, the housing market, people need to feel safe to go back to work and to the stores.  This is not happening right now  

 

 

Will The Cubicle Return?

Hello Everyone:

It is a lovely, much cooler day as we continue our series of socially distant posts.  The good news is Blogger's hometown is slowly springing back to life.  One should still observe all the necessary precautions and follow all public health instructions.  One of the things slowly returning to life is the office.  Will the post-Covid-19 contemporary corporate landscape return to its previous state or something else?  Shall we take a look?

Contemporary office in California
decoist.com

The contemporary office is purposefully designed to encourage collaboration and includes the always appreciated in-house coffee bar.  However as corporate America slowly returns to the land of the living, the contemporary office will have another much appreciated perk, sneeze guards.

The sneeze guard is a "plexiglass barrier that can be mounted on a desk is one of the many ideas being mulled by employers as they contemplate a return to the workplace after coronavirus lockdowns" (nytimes.com; May 4, 2020; date accessed May 11, 2020).  Other ideas for the post-virus office include built in hand sanitizers, positione at right angles or enclosed by plastic parititions; air filters that blow air down, not up; outdoor spaces that allow collaborative without viral transmission, and operable windows (Ibid).  They all sound like great ideas, especially the part of windows that you can open and get fresh air but will it make the office a safer, more healthier place to work?

The offices of Infection Prevention at UC Irvine
Irvine, California
nytimes.com

This is the conversation now taking place throughout the American business world, "how to reconfigure the American work-place" (Ibid).  Design and furniture companies tasked with answering this question say "that the virus may even be tilting workplaces back toward a concept they had been moving away from since the Mad Men era: privacy" (Ibid).  Does that mean a return to the cube farms?  Tracy D. Wymer, the vice president for workplace at Knoll office furniture, told The New York Times,

We are not infectious disease experts, we are simply furniture people (Ibid)

The real disease experts, like Dr. Rajneesh Behal a doctor of internal medicine and chief quality office of One Medical, believe that a virus-free workplace is magical thinking.  During a webniar on how businesses can reopen, Dr. Behal succinctly put it,

A core message is, do not expect your risk goes down to zero (Ibid)

Most of what we know about workplaces and disease comes from studies conducted on influenza transmissions, which shares symptoms with Covid-19.  Surprised?  This is why it is absolutely crucial you stay informed.  Dr. Lisa Winston, the hospital epidemiologist at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General at the University of California, San Francisco, spoke to The Times,

We know that flu spreads in workplaces among healthy working adults (Ibid)

A 2016 analysis of research paper from around the world "found that around 16 percent of flu transmission takes place in the office" (Ibid)

Are cubicles coming back?
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Additional research concluded that the best ways to mitigate workplace transmission is a paid sick leave policy that encourages employees to stay home when they fall ill.  Since Yours Truly mentioned it, there should a national paid sick leave policy.  Back to the matter at hand, Dr. Winston offered another, very simple suggestion to lower the risk, fewer people in a space (Ibid).

Fewer people in the workplace?  This sounds like sheer madness in the face of the workplace embrace of the open-floor place that goes back to the nineties dot-com boom.  Matt Richtel describes the open-floor plan embrace "...hailed as essential to collaboration and creativity, but of course, also about cramming more people into expensive office, a situation that people now realize creates unnerving petri-dish conditions" (Ibid).

Mr. Wymer of Knoll Furniture told Mr. Richtel "his goal had changed from making offices virus-free, which is impractical, to remaking them so that workers feel safer."  He said,

We can't ask employees to come back to the same office,... Companies feel we have to address the root fear (Ibid)

Is the open-plan office a thing of the past?
cio.com

Right now, shared desks are out ("hoteling" in business-speak), cheek-to-jowl seating and cafes where employees can meet over coffee to discuss a project is a thing of the past.  It can also mean using materials, like copper, that are easier to clean and hospital-like ventilation systems that draw air down from the ceiling, considered more safe, instead of upward.

The open-floor plan has been the epitome of the 21st-century workplace.  Sitting side-by-side, in a row encouraged collaboration and the open space was great for meeting or a ping-pong table.  Igor Faletski, the chief executive of the Vancouver-based Mobify, was succinct,

It's less about fun and more about safety ...

Lavish buffets?

Forget about that for now (Ibid)

Mr. Faletski is considering letting more of his employees work from home and moving headquarters to a new building with better ventilation.  He told Mr. Richtel,  People want to have safe collaboration (Ibid).

Please, if you can
theconversation.com

Could we see the return of the much derided office cubicle?  There has been talk about introducing a more transparent version of the cubicle, the sneeze guard.  Marketed a  Cough and Sneeze Protection Screen, by Obex P.E., emails to potential clients advertise,

Plenty of options to fit your style and needs,... Decrease person-to-person contact.  Practice Social Distancing (Ibid)


Sneeze and cough guards have already found a home in banks, grocery and drugstores; and are gaining momentum in the office space.  Commercial real estate company CBRE produced a promotional 12-page, The Future of Furniture, PowerPoint report, suggestingAdd tall laminate gallery panels to workstations or benching stations,... (Ibid)

Cough and sneeze guard
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Tall plexiglass partitions that extend over the desks are already in use in the office run by one of the United States' top infectious disease expert Dr. Susan Huang.  Dr. Huang is the medical director of the University of California, Irvine epidemiology and infectious disease prevention center.  She pointed out that the barriers weren't designed for coronavirus (Ibid), rather they were intended to maintain a sense of collaboration and reduce noise.  Now, they have the additional benefit of "creating some biological isolation" (Ibid).

However, Dr. Huang said that "safety in the workplace would require more than plastic shield" (Ibid).  When her lab reopened two weeks ago, the first thing she did was explain the new hygiene rules.  During the meeting, she handed out bottles of hand sanitizer and masks to each employee.  Dr. Huang told The New York Times,

I had to tell them, You're going to wear a mask all day long,... and tell them how to do it right and that they have to do it,...

She also recalled admonishing the employees,

And don't touch your mask without first using hand sanitizer (Ibid)

Dr. Susan Huang
ocregister.com

Smaller companies may have to implement more modest changes but workplace safety issues are, nonetheless, important.  Howard Cao, the chief executive of Form & Function a San Francisco-based start up incubator, is considering changing out the touch pad entry at the front door.  Mr. Cao told The Times,

We'll probaby have to reconfigure that into something with Bluetooth or a key fob (Ibid)

Inside the office he shares with his seven employees, he is looking to create some physical distance along the work table.  He said, 

It may be as simple as mini-divider between people (Ibid)

Perhaps, the cubicle?

For some, the proposed changes are more cosmetic than substantive.  Ron Wiener, the chief executive of iMovR, a Seattle-based company that designs standing desks, dismissed it as theater.  Mr. Wiener said,

I call it social distancing theater, like T.S.A. security theater after 9/11 (Ibid)

Perhaps the best approach, for now, is to continue having employees work from home instead of overhauling the office.  It quickly and effectively fulfills two goals: keeping people safe and saving money.  One of the takeaways in the post-pandemic office makeover is cost-effectiveness in the name of safety.  These goals are mutually compatible.

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Going forward, the post-pandemic workplace must incorporate policy and design changes that will keep everyone safe and healthy.