Milwaukee rent activists call for rent cancellation

On the evening of Feb. 1, as Marlene Peace, a Milwaukee resident and grandmother, stood outside the doors of S2 Realty in Milwaukee, her frustration rose as the temperature continued to drop.

Peace had traveled to the building hoping to help her daughter pay her rent. “I’m here because my daughter has a special needs child,” she tells Wisconsin Examiner. “So I would’ve been coming here with her, just to do this, and then they’re not even open.”

Building staff decided to lock the doors after the Milwaukee Autonomous Tenants Union (MATU) organized a small picket on the sidewalk in front of the building. Even tenants arriving to pay rent in person were refused entry. Robert “Bobby” Penner, an organizer with MATU, said the group chose to picket S2 because of the company’s high rate of eviction filings. Penner noted that S2 Real Estate currently has more than 40 open evictions in the circuit court.

Since September, the company has evicted 82 tenants, despite the federal moratorium against such actions due to the pandemic. The company houses around 550 tenants. Employees at S2 told Wisconsin Examiner that the owner, Sam Stair, wasn’t available for comment.

Read more: https://wisconsinexaminer.com/brief/milwaukee-rent-activists-call-for-rent-cancellation/