St. Petersburg protest against the end of the eviction moratorium

About two dozen protesters gathered outside an office of Congressman Charlie Crist to protest the Supreme Court’s ruling on the eviction moratorium.

NS. PETERSBURG, Florida – On Thursday the Supreme Court ruled against an extension of the nationwide eviction moratorium. According to a recent poll by the US Census Bureau, more than 3 million Americans will be affected by this decision.

The St. Petersburg Tenants’ Association organized a protest and march outside the office of Congressman Charlie Crist on Saturday in hopes of reinstating the moratorium.

“If Congress doesn’t act immediately, we must keep fighting because nobody should lose their home during a pandemic,” said Karla Correa, organizer of the St. Pete’s Tenants Union.

Correa said the end of the moratorium had an impact on them. She struggles to earn the rent every month and often pays too late.

“If I’m evicted and I can’t pay my rent for a month, I have nowhere to go,” she said. “And that’s the reality for so many working class people.”

The location of Crist’s office is one of the areas that protesters say has been the hardest hit by evictions.

“In the zip code 33712 this is actually the hardest hit area,” said the organizer William Kilgore. “We’ve seen the most evictions in all of Pinellas County in this zip code. There have been well over 350 evictions.”

The eviction moratorium applies to landlords with tenants who are directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s not a law that everyone can agree on as renters and landlords have received and received rental assistance through the American Rescue Plan.

“They should never have had an eviction moratorium as part of it when they were giving money to pay the rent,” said Rhett Krulce, a resident of 33712. “The eviction moratorium has deprived tenants of motivation to do whatever they had to do to get their rent paid. “

The protesters hoped for a response from Congressman Crist. He hasn’t turned up or commented on, but recently tweeted about the rental assistance available.

Pinellas tenants continue to receive millions of dollars in rental support from our #AmericanRescuePlan. If you are threatened with eviction, apply today at https://t.co/wmkt30Dm53

– Congressman Charlie Crist (@RepCharlieCrist) August 27, 2021

The post St. Petersburg protest against the end of the eviction moratorium first appeared on Daily Florida Press.

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