[Excerpts]

The suspension of rent, and the forgiveness of any debts related to its non-payment, is a profoundly biblical idea. We find it in the Hebrew Bible, in Leviticus 25:8-55, God gave Moses extensive laws that are to govern the “year of jubilee,” a period when all debts were forgiven, and property was to be widely redistributed throughout the community. In Deuteronomy 15:1 we encounter a text that reads, “Every seventh year you shall practice remission of debts."

....

The CARES Act provides for mortgage forbearance for federally backed mortgages. Homeowners and landlords can forego payments to their lenders for up to twelve months. The payments are to be tacked onto the end of the loan without penalty. This relief will prevent millions of homeowners and landlords from losing their homes and rental properties through foreclosure during this health emergency. To avoid a massive foreclosure crisis, mortgage lenders must embrace their key role and facilitate forbearance for homeowners and landlords.

[But] the CARES Act provides no similar relief to renters. Businesses are eligible for rent relief in the form of grants and loans. Families are only offered a delay in the eviction process and protection from landlords charging them fees or penalties for non-payment of rent. This means that if they fail to pay rent throughout the pandemic then they will face eviction as soon as it is over.

The CARES Act does create a Coronavirus Relief Fund to allow cities and counties to respond to their urgent needs. Harris County will receive over $800 million from this fund. At least $100 million should be used for rental assistance and other resources needed by families who will not receive funds from the CARES Act.

Suspending rent throughout the course of the pandemic would guarantee housing security for renters. At the end of the pandemic, renters should not owe their landlords anything for missed rent payments or face retribution for non-payment of rent....

[Photo by Melissa Philip, Houston Chronicle]

Bible Teachings Counsel Us to Suspend Rent During Coronavirus Pandemic, Houston Chronicle [pdf]

WTOS & Llano Estacado Alliance for Democracy (LEAD) clergy and leaders succeeded in getting City of Lubbock Utilities to halt robocalls to residents.  The automated calls were causing "fear and anxiety that utilities would be shut off," even after the emergency declaration was put into place.

[Photo Credit: AP Graphics]

City of Lubbock Utility Robocalls to Stop, KCBD News [pdf]

At the urging of Coloradans for the Common Good and the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW), Governor Jared Polis expanded the consideration of "essential workers" to include food and grocery store workers on the front lines of the coronavirus crisis. The protections include emergency paid leave and child care, and will benefit 20,000 grocery store and commercial food processing workers across the state.

In a meeting with the Governor, faith and labor leaders successfully made the case that grocery store workers are essential and should be eligible for supports then-available only to front-line medical workers.

[Photo Credit: Mykal McEldowney / IndyStar]

Colorado Emergency Child Care Expands to include Grocery, Construction Workers, Chalkbeat [pdf]  

What About Grocery Store Workers? Advocates Push Colorado to Extend Emergency Child Care, Chalkbeat [pdf] 

In the only public testimony at today’s Texas Public Utilities Commission (PUC) meeting, Texas IAF leader Rev. Miles Brandon of Central Texas Interfaith called on the PUC to create assistance programs and halt cutoffs for customers impacted by the economic and health impacts of the COVID-19 crisis.   At the meeting the PUC voted to create the “COVID-19 Electricity Relief Program” providing financial assistance and halting service disconnections for low-income and unemployed customers in deregulated markets such as Dallas, Houston, and Round Rock  

 “COVID-19 is causing uncertainty and many hardships, and during this time, Central Texas Interfaith and our partner organizations in Texas IAF don’t want Texas citizens to have their physical or financial health put in danger unnecessarily," said Rev. Brandon.   

PUC Chair DeAnn T. Walker recognized Fr. Brandon and the work of the Texas IAF organizations in advocating for families across the state. 

6 million Texans live in the areas impact by the measures enacted by PUC today.  Today’s actions were a first step.  Texas IAF leaders plan to work with PUC leaders to extend and potentially expand these protections and assistance programs as long as the COVID-19 crisis continues.

Texas Regulators Vote to Ban Residential Utility Shut-Offs During Pandemic While Buoying Companies, Texas Tribune [pdf] 

Texans Unable to Pay Rent and Utility Bills Get Emergency Relief, NBC-DFW [pdf]

Statement by Rev. Miles Brandon, St. Julian of Norwich Episcopal Church, Central TX Interfaith

Statement by Bryan Lopez, Assumption Catholic Church in Houston, TMO

Texas IAF Letter to the Public Utilities Commission 

Twice in one week, TMO leaders called on local, state and federal elected officials to adopt legislation and policies to help working families facing economic disaster due to lost wages and jobs. You can watch the press conference here. 

On Wednesday, TMO leaders called on Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Governor Abbott to impose a 60-day moratorium on all evictions so that families are not forced onto the street or into homes of others.  By Thursday, Judge Hidalgo responded, putting a moratorium in place until the end of March, with the possibility of “ending them as long as necessary.”

With millions of households experiencing a layoff or a reduction in work hours during this pandemic, and millions more uninsured who might need testing and treatment for this virus, TMO is still calling on US Congress, Governor Greg Abbott, Texas State Legislators, and other state officials to act now for families. 

[Excerpts below]

More than two years after Hurricane Harvey flooded St. Francis of Assisi parishioner Kathy Gabriel’s home, she finally celebrated the holidays this past November and December in her home that had to be demolished and rebuilt....Sherry Dunlap, [is] a fellow parishioner who took it upon her faith in action to help those families.  

“Thanks to training through TMO (The Metropolitan Organization), I became the de facto Harvey Disaster Case Administrator for the church and our parishioners and others around the city,” Dunlap said.

Even St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church itself was inundated with water and the subsequent problems of mold and other issues that the Archdiocese helped to resolve.

TMO and Gulf Coast Leadership Council (GCLC) representative Gina Reynoso said the nonprofit organizations acted as a conduit to connect people in need after the hurricane with the multitude of agencies attempting to help.

With contribution from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, GCLC organized meetings with churches and their congregations impacted by the hurricane as being places of trust among the flurry of contractors and others trying to get a piece of the work.  Reynoso said, “In the last two years, GCLC has held outreach sessions reaching more than 2,000 people....

[Photo Credit (left): James Ramos, Herald; (right): St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church]

A Renovated Home for the Holidays: St. Francis of Assisi Parishioners Mark Second Christmas Since Harvey, Texas Catholic Herald [pdf]

137 leaders from 33 member institutions of Nevadans for the Common Good gathered at Green Valley United Methodist Church to ratify their "2020 Vision" for the year and hire a new Lead Organizer, Anna Eng.  According to NCG, "the room was full of Energy, Ownership, and Power."  

Two years ago, Northern & Central Louisiana Interfaith (NCLI) persuaded the Sheriff of Caddo parish to become the first local official in state history to use newly granted local authority to reject an industrial tax exemption request.  Since then, Caddo Parish, the City of Shreveport, and the Caddo Parish School Board rejected $11.5 Million in property tax exemptions -- effectively clawing back those dollars for human infrastructure and safety including schools and law enforcement.  

At one point, according to KTBS: 

"Caddo Parish was giving away more money than the entire state of Texas....That is why [Caddo Sheriff] Prator reviews each potential tax break thoroughly. He even sends his chief deputy to examine the company in person. He can do that now because two years ago, Together Louisiana along with North Louisiana Interfaith, a citizen's group, pushed lawmakers and the governor to fix the problem by making changes to ITEP.

Now, Caddo parish is faring better.

[Photo Credit: KTBS footage]

Caddo Faring Better After Reforms to Industry Tax Exemption Program, KTBS News [pdf]

Fiscal Impact of ITEP Reform in Caddo Parish, North Louisiana Interfaith

NCLI Effort Leads to First Local Rejection of Industrial Tax Break, The Advocate & More (2018)

When the October 2019 gubernatorial election yielded a voter turnout of only 46%, clergy from Together Louisiana grew concerned.  Their concerns only grew when they learned that turnout from low income and predominantly minority neighborhoods was 17% lower than in 2016.  

Says The Rev. Shawn Moses Anglim, pastor of the First Grace Methodist Church in mid-city New Orleans: “When major blocs of people aren’t participating, that worries me.  Whatever their reasons, it’s not good for the country, it’s not good for the state, and it’s not good for New Orleans.”

Reaching out to pastors from diverse denominations, he convened a meeting to decide what to do.  Congregations in Baton Rouge, Alexandria and Shreveport held similar nonpartisan gatherings. 

With help from Together Louisiana and the Power Coalition, the ministers put together envelopes to give to institutional leaders that held the names of about 30 voters who cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election but didn’t participate in the previous month's primary.  Leaders were commissioned to personally reach out to each of those voters and ask them to participate in the November election.

This nonpartisan strategy appears to have been effective at increasing voter turnout.  Turnout on the first day of early voting yielded the highest ever -- about 2,500 more than in 2016.  Overall turnout across the state increased from 46% to almost 51%, ensuring that more citizens were involved in choosing who would be governor.  In Shreveport, Alexandria, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, voter turnout increased by an even greater amount (see right graphic above) with green circles indicating increased precinct-level turnout between the runoff and the election, and the size of the circles indicating the number.

Turnout increases were leveraged face-to-face and conversation-by-conversation -- between Together Louisiana leaders and citizens who don't always vote -- with extraordinary results. 

[Photo Credit: (left) Bill Feig, The Advocate]

Turnout Increase Map, Together Louisiana 

John Bel Edwards Earned a Remarkable Win for Reelection; Here's How He Did It, The Advocate [pdf]

First Day of Early Voting in Governor's Race was Higher than 2016 Presidential Election, The Advocate [pdf]

Urban Louisiana Churches Working to Increase Turnout in Governor's Race, The Advocate [pdf]

On a cloudy November day, EPISO/Border Interfaith celebrated the initiation of a $13 Million project that will provide 816 Montana Vista residents with water and wastewater services in a colonia far east of El Paso.  El Paso Water Utilities publicly recognized the organization for its leadership in ensuring that residents have access to these essential services.

For years, Montana Vista felt like a forgotten community due to poverty, isolation and a lack of relationships with elected officials.  Residents appealed to their then-priest at San Juan Diego Catholic for support in getting much needed basic streets, parks and wastewater services.  A longtime leader and co-chair of EPISO, Father Ed Roden-Lucero and EPISO organizers worked with resident leaders, guiding them in their efforts to seek essential infrastructure.

Part of those efforts included community education about the Economically Distressed Areas Program, a program created in 1989 by EPISO/Border Interfaith and sister Texas IAF organizations to address lack of infrastructure in the colonias.  That same year, EPISO/BI and Texas IAF organizations got out the vote to amend the Texas Constitution to provide the Texas Water Development Board $200 million dollars to issue grants and loans to install water and wastewater infrastructure in colonias and economically distressed areas.  Since 1989, over $1 Billion dollars have been invested in colonias and economically distressed areas across Texas.

Change is coming to Montana Vista.  In January, a long-fought for (and separately funded) road extension was newly opened, with four lanes, bike routes, sidewalks, lighting, and landscaping.   Now, to community acclaim, El Paso Water is breaking ground for Phase 1 of its water and wastewater project -- scheduled for completion within 18 months.   

El Paso Water Recognition of EPISO/Border Interfaith [video]

Inician Obra de Agua y Drenaje en Montana Vista, Telemundo [pdf]

Montana Vista Road Extension Breaks Ground, EPISO