Landlords Throw Party to Celebrate Being Able to Evict People Again
The Berkeley Property Owners Association's fall mixer is called "Celebrating the End of the Eviction Moratorium."
A group of Berkeley, California landlords will hold a fun social mixer over cocktails to celebrate their newfound ability to kick people out of their homes for nonpayment of rent, as first reported by Berkeleyside.
The Berkeley Property Owner Association lists a fall mixer on its website on Tuesday, September 12, 530 PM PST. “We will celebrate the end of the Eviction Moratorium and talk about what's upcoming through the end of the year,” the invitation reads. The event advertises one free drink and “a lovely selection of appetizers,” and encourages attendees to “join us around the fire pits, under the heat lamps and stars, enjoying good food, drink, and friends.”
The venue will ironically be held at a space called “Freehouse”, according to its website. Attendees who want to join in can RSVP on their website for $20.
Berkeley’s eviction moratorium lasted from March 2020 to August 31, 2023, according to the city’s Rent Board, during which time tenants could not be legally removed from their homes for nonpayment of rent. Landlords could still evict tenants if they had “Good Cause” under city and state law, which includes health and safety violations. Landlords can still not collect back rent from March 2020 to April 2023 through an eviction lawsuit, according to the Rent Board.
Berkeleyside spoke to one landlord planning to attend the eviction moratorium party who was frustrated that they could not evict a tenant—except that they could evict the tenant, who was allegedly a danger to his roommates—but the landlord found the process of proving a health and safety violation too tedious and chose not to pursue it.
The Berkeley Property Owner Association is a landlord group that shares leadership with a lobbying group called the Berkeley Rental Housing Coalition which advocated against a law banning source of income discrimination against Section 8 tenants and other tenant protections.
The group insists on not being referred to as landlords, however, which they consider “slander.” According to the website, “We politely decline the label "landlord" with its pejorative connotations.” They also bravely denounce feudalism, an economic system which mostly ended 500 years ago, and say that the current system is quite fair to renters.
“Feudalism was an unfair system in which landlords owned and benefited, and tenant farmers worked and suffered. Our society is entirely different today, and the continued use of the legal term ‘landlord’ is slander against our members and all rental owners.” Instead, they prefer to be called “housing providers.”
While most cities’ eviction moratoria elapsed in 2021 and 2022, a handful of cities in California still barred evictions for non-payment into this year. Alameda County’s eviction moratorium expired in May, Oakland’s expired in July. San Francisco’s moratorium also elapsed at the end of August, but only covered tenants who lost income due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In May, Berkeley’s City Council added $200,000 to the city’s Eviction Defense Funds, money which is paid directly to landlords to pay tenants’ rent arrears, but the city expected those funds to be tapped out by the end of June.
Aside from the fact that you're advocating mass murder, it's worth pointing out that the guillotine's association with executing wealthy nobles is largely fictional.
that can change
A much more likely scenario is just a repeat of the aptly-named Reign of Terror.
Wealthy elites are running a reign of terror right now, have been for centuries, If we can't reason with them (which has been tried, and failed) then there's only one option left.
The "Reign of Terror" is so called because the revolutionary government literally adopted "terror" (as in murdering people who disagreed with them) as an official government policy.
Yes, kind of like how things are now.
Um, no.
Are you familiar with the american police? Their brutality upholds the status quo. They and the elites they serve deserve to be terrorized.
Yes. I'm also familiar with the history of the French Revolution and why it's not an example to be followed.
Normalizing political violence inevitably, and sometimes literally, will blow up in your face. Just ask Robespierre.
Do you think we can make things better by being nice and civil to the people currently doing the oppression? Or do you just like things the way they are and want nothing to change?
What I think it that normalizing political violence is extremely dangerous. That it will inevitably be turned back against the very people who advocate for it. And that people who advocate for it must have slept through history class.
Police brutality is political violence. You will never escape political violence, there has never been a period of history without it. You enemies will always use violence against you what are you gonna do just roll over and let them take everything?
What a well thought out response from someone who thinks things are just fine, apparently.
One could say that by making housing unaffordable, by making groceries unaffordable, and by privatizing healthcare, mass murder is already being committed.
I'm talking about literal homicide.
Observing and stating what is an obviously exaggerated result is hardly advocating.
But, yes, I do believe the likes of people who put profit over lives deserve the worst.
Not advocating. I wouldn't be sad if it happened. But, definitely not advocating.
If you're not advocating for political violence, then why mention the guillotine in the first place?
Go back to Forbes or whatever.
Then, it must be smally factual.
My kingdom for an intelligent response.