CAAAV’s #CancelRent Fund will organize and support CAAAV members to take collective action against real estate, big landlords and against Governor Cuomo. CAAAV has been organizing working-class Asian immigrant tenants for over 15 years. Now is the moment to leverage all the power that we’ve built over the last decade and a half. Crises create openings to win big material and cultural change. Things are possible today that weren’t possible even one month ago. We have been fighting for a #HomesGuarantee for years. Now that millions of renters across the US are at risk of losing their housing, there is an opening to win safe, healthy and guaranteed homes for all of us – to win housing as a human right. Will you stand with working-class Asian immigrants and donate to CAAAV’s #CancelRent Fund?
COVID-19 is an economic crisis as much as it is a health crisis. Public housing was left to decay so developers could swoop in and privatize public homes, which has now left CAAAV members in apartments without repairs, without consistent heat and without adequate cleaning, even in this pandemic. Gentrification has forced members to live in overcrowded conditions in Chinatown, cramming multiple people into small apartments with no possibility for social distancing. Many of CAAAV’s members are undocumented and don’t qualify for stimulus checks or any form of relief. A large number of members are workers over the age of 60 who must choose to work despite the dire health risks or lose their jobs without the possibility of unemployment benefits.
This is our chance to change real estate’s chokehold on New York City. We are organizing to force Governor Cuomo to #CancelRent for every single tenant in New York State – whether in rent-stabilized, unregulated, public, or informal housing – so that we all have safe, healthy and guaranteed homes. Winning #Cancel Rent, challenging the legitimacy of capitalism and housing for profit, and setting the pre-conditions to win housing as a human right all depend on how hard we fight right now.
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Our annual Karaoke Battle will now take place virtually on Wednesday, May 20 via Zoom and in the next few weeks our goal is to raise $30,000. By donating to our #CancelRent Fund through our annual fundraiser, Karaoke Battle: The Revolution Starts at Home, your support will enable us to provide:
- Emergency aid: Direct relief to CAAAV members, in the form of food, medicine, rent relief or legal support for CAAAV member-led rent strikes
- Public Housing block organizing: Support for members to pressure NYCHA to cancel rent and for HUD to prioritize sanitation maintenance and emergency repairs so those most vulnerable to COVID-19 can stay in safe and healthy homes
- Building by building organizing: Support for rent-stabilized members to write demand letters, pressure and negotiate with their landlords, instead of being forced to make impossible choices between affording rent or groceries
- Language justice: Rapid translation into Chinese, Bangla and Korean of everything from eviction moratorium know your rights materials, to accurate information about COVID-19 health and safety, to #CancelRent campaign strategy
- Building power to rent strike: Deepening our collective understanding of the power of coordinated, building-wide rent strikes, and to organize with CAAAV members to build enough power to strike
If you want to donate and support working-class Asian communities in the fight for housing justice during a critical time, CLICK HERE.
RSVP NOW if you want to attend the virtual event or want to fundraise/compete in the battle!
Follow our Karaoke Battle event page on Facebook for more information!