GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — As Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pares back restrictions that have been in place for weeks because of the COVID-19 crisis, there's one executive order that a group of activists want to be extended.
Friday is the end of an executive order that temporarily extended evictions in the state of Michigan. The governor first issued the order at the end of March.
The groups No Rent Michigan and the Grand Rapids Tenant Union teamed up Tuesday evening to hold a car rally on the southeast side of Grand Rapids. The protest at Garfield Park was calling on Whitmer to extend the moratorium on evictions.
Along with an extension, demonstrators also don't want renters to have to pay two to three months of back rent once the suspension ends. And, they want to see a pause on utility shut-offs as well.
The demonstrators are concerned that the black community, which has been impacted disproportionately by COVID-19 will also be affected disproportionately by the end of eviction moratoriums.
"As someone who works in a low-wage job in Grand Rapids, the city was facing an affordability crisis before the pandemic hit," said Justin Barr who volunteers with the Grand Rapids Tenant Union. "It worries me that there are so many of my neighbors who haven't been paying rent and are going to have to face that when the order expires, having to pay all that back rent. I'm concerned about an eviction crisis that people are going to get kicked out for not being able to pay the back rent or to continue to be able to pay rent because they might still be unemployed at the moment."
13 ON YOUR SIDE reached out to the Rental Property Owner's Association for a response to the rally, but they have yet to respond to an after business hours call. Their website says they're working with the governor to put financial assistance in place for people who can't pay rent because they lost their jobs.
They also expect a backlog in eviction cases to delay hearings.
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