Tuesday, March 21, 2023

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Texas lawmakers consider legislation to prevent cities from self-governance, Connecticut considers policy options to alleviate an eviction crisis, and Ohio residents await community water systems.

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Gov. Ron DeSantis breaks his silence on Trump's potential indictment and attacks Manhattan prosecutors, President Biden vetoes his first bill to protect socially conscious retirement investing, and the Supreme Court hears a case on Native American water rights.

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The 41st state has opted into Medicaid which could be a lifeline for rural hospitals in North Carolina, homelessness barely rose in the past two years but the work required to hold the numbers increased, and destruction of the "Sagebrush Sea" from Oregon to Wyoming is putting protection efforts for an itty-bitty bunny on the map.

NV Lawmakers Urged to Level Tenant-Landlord Dynamics

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Tuesday, January 10, 2023   

Nevada is the only state with a summary eviction system, meaning it is up to a renter to initiate a court challenge if a landlord decides to evict them. This system, along with rising rent prices, has made Nevada a "profit opportunity" for corporate housing investment.

Nia Johnson, political and policy coordinator for the group Liberation in a Generation, called them "pandemic profiteers," and said they are able to reap some benefits from the economic impacts of the public health emergency.

Johnson said Nevada lawmakers should be ready and willing to stand up this year against what her group sees as one of the most predatory eviction systems in the country.

"We see these big corporations, we see landlords of all sizes, mimicking that behavior of wanting to extract wealth from the community of tenants, from renters that are simply trying to survive," she said.

In 2021, legislation sealed records of summary evictions for nonpayment of rent during the pandemic. Another bill would have ended the summary eviction process, but it did not pass. Both received pushback from landlords. Lawmakers did approve an interim study on summary evictions - which Johnson said is a step in the right direction, but not enough to move forward.

Ben Iness, coalition coordinator with the Nevada Housing Justice Alliance said the pandemic exacerbated housing inequities and power dynamics, and believes lawmakers should level the playing field between tenants and landlords.

He called it short-sighted for the state to value the stability and needs of those who can invest in housing versus those who rent.

"I think step by step, we'd love to kind of reclaim and change the narrative around housing," Iness said, "so that it is not this 'investment,' this 'commodity' - it's something that is a basic, fundamental human right."

Iness said one of the concerns about summary evictions is that a landlord can issue an eviction notice without court oversight, which then makes it difficult for a renter to navigate the legal steps. If they are not met in seven days, a landlord can remove tenants from the property within 24 hours.

Disclosure: Liberation in a Generation contributes to our fund for reporting on Civil Rights, Housing/Homelessness, Poverty Issues, Social Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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