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Member of Student Govt. at U. Florida Encourages Rent Strike

Member of Student Govt. at U. Florida Encourages Rent Strike

“petition has amassed more than 11,500 signatures so far”

It’s one thing if a student is struggling to pay rent right now, but encouraging a rent strike helps no one. Things like this will create more problems.

Campus Reform reports:

UF students receive email encouraging them NOT to pay rent

University of Florida student and 3-year apartment resident Victoria Someillan was intrigued when the words “COVID-19 RENT STRIKE NOW” appeared in her email inbox on Monday morning.

“This is something that’s been talked a lot between my friends and I…seeing someone take the initiative to contact students is very thoughtful,” Someillan told Campus Reform.

Someillan was pleasantly surprised when University of Florida Student Government Senator Zachariah Chou sent out an email Monday morning discussing the topic of rent relief for UF students. The email encouraged students to send emails to Gov. Ron DeSantis and proposed a rent strike in the local community of Gainesville, Florida. Additionally, the email emphasized how many college students are being forced to pay their rent on off-campus housing during the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused many students to return home for the semester.

On March 11, the University of Florida sent out an email encouraging students to “return home until March 30” as all classes moved online. Many students living in off-campus housing were faced with the decision of staying in Gainesville or going back home to live with their parents.

Some students who chose to return home due to COVID-19 were frustrated, however, when their landlords refused to offer any rent relief or changes to leasing contracts. One student, Sarah Lobo, took the initiative to create her own petition and share her story. The petition has amassed more than 11,500 signatures so far.

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Comments

healthguyfsu | May 4, 2020 at 12:36 pm

Apparently, the concept of a lease is too complicated for the snowflakes.

It will be very enlightening for the snowflakes to learn about credit history when they have an eviction on their credit record. Good luck renting that next apartment! I am sure that future prospective landlord will be very receptive to a whine that “It wasn’t fair.”

I don’t know about the snowflakes, but I see a contradiction between the “concept” of having the government take away people’s jobs and the expectation that those same people will be able to pay rent money for months with no end in sight.
Not every young man and woman out there is a snowflake.

    healthguyfsu in reply to Exiliado. | May 5, 2020 at 1:53 am

    I’d be willing to bet that the main job for 95% of the complainers is full-time student. Their job remained full-time student as they finished the semester online. In fact, their expenses had the opportunity to go down if they left their apartments (cancelling cable/internet, no gas for commute, eat cheaper, use less power/water/etc).

    The university did not tell them to try and break their lease. The university said, paraphrasing, in complainant’s own words to “go home”. What the snowflakes don’t realize is that their “home” according to the law is their legal place of residence, whether owned or rented.

    If you are having a financial hardship, you can work out a delay of payments with a landlord. I’d be willing to be that most would be reasonable during this time. That’s not what happened here. They demanded to be freed from their legal obligations and threatened this “strike” over it. That’s what pouting snowflakes do…(well that and turn to Bernie Sanders for free promises)