- [Jason] Landlord organizations are telling lawmakers
in Washington we need help too.
They say fewer of their renters are paying rent
and they too, the landlords, have bills to pay,
as the coronavirus crisis enters its third month
in the US, more and more tenants are protesting
paying their rent.
- Cancel rent now!
May, we are not going to pay!
- [Reporter] While many people pay rent
to large corporations, around half
of Americans who rent, rent from individual landlords.
There are about eight million owners in this category,
most of whom have between one and 10 properties.
- Thank you for figuring out how to do your Skype.
- Yeah, my son was helping me.
- [Jason] Oh, that's nice.
Fadela Hussein says her rental income
is her only income.
Her homes are in Schenectady, New York,
a riverside city
of around 60,000 that's three hours north of Manhattan.
Her single-family homes run
for, on average, $1,200 per month.
- I started in 2010.
I used up my savings to invest in one property,
buy it and fix it and rent it.
It, eventually, over the years,
I accumulated a few more.
- More than a few, you're up to 14 right now, right?
- Right.
- [Jason] Hussein, who's 61 years old and a widow,
says she has so many tenants not paying their rent right now
that she can't pay all her mortgages.
- [Hussein] They're just not paying.
- She says these four homes are vacant
and need repairs, which now she can't afford.
Hussein was in the process, she says,
of trying to evict the tenants of two homes,
when New York declared a 90-day moratorium on evictions.
They, and three other tenants, she says
have yet to pay their April rent.
Did people lose their jobs, is that the issue?
- Well, they haven't responded to my letter asking them
for proof if they are affected
or if they are unemployed because of the COVID-19.
And when I call, I'm not getting any response either.
- [Jason] Hussein said she would work with her tenants
on payment options
and perhaps even lower their rent
if she could get ahold of them.
- I knocked on the door, nobody would open the door.
- [Jason] According to records she shared with us,
if all the houses she owned were rented
and current on payments,
she would have collected for the month of April $16,000.
She only took in $6,300,
which she says doesn't cover her costs.
- It's so hard and I am so confused.
I'm lost and stressed.
- [Jason] Hussein says she hasn't been able
to reach your mortgage lenders
and is trying to get a small business loan.
Minnesota's Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar,
introduced a bill that would cancel rents and mortgages
during the coronavirus pandemic.
- We want to make sure with this package
that no one is going to be left behind
and that our system in itself is not going to break down.
- But how big is this package?
I read through the bill
and I didn't see dollar estimates.
- Without taking into full account,
the scope of the problem,
we can't really estimate the amount
of money it's going to need.
- The bill has a tough road ahead
with no broad bipartisan support
and critics decline provisions favoring renters.
How concerned are they about their businesses right now?
- They're petrified.
They wake up every morning very concerned
about what the future holds frankly.
- [Jason] One of the most active advocates
for landlords in New York
is the Community Housing Improvement Program,
which has over 4,000 owners and managers.
Jay Martin is the head of CHIP.
Martin says the government should bear more responsibility
and suspend taxes for landlords like Hussein.
- Governments are not willing to entertain the idea
of suspending taxes
because they're also in financial hardship right now.
- Many of our municipalities
across this country rely on these property taxes
to be able to sustain their communities.
So we want to make sure
that landlords have the resources
that they need in order to still fulfill their obligations.
- So what happens if your bill doesn't pass,
and nothing gets done?
- That will be a complete devastation.
We are looking at, like I said,
a huge collapse of our housing market.
- If this continues, what are are you gonna do?
- I'm just gonna have to stop making all the payments
on these properties, even insurance.
If something happen,
I don't know what's gonna happen.
I'm gonna have to stop
because there's no money, there's no money.
- [Jason] If May and the summer months
are as bad for her as April was,
Hussein says she'll have to let some
of her properties go or.
- I have to go find a job.
That's it.
And decide if I wanna continue being a landlord
or I just wanna get out of it.
I don't think I can keep handle,
I can't handle it anymore.
I can't.
(melancholic music)