TechEquity Collaborative Calls for Emergency Federal Action on COVID-19 Public Health and Economic Crises
(Oakland, California) TechEquity joined more than 100 of California’s leading non-profit and community organizations in sending an emergency letter to Speaker Pelosi and the California Congressional delegation on Monday, April 27 that directs lawmakers to take immediate action on housing policy to address the COVID-19 environment in California and nationwide.
“We need decisive and expansive action from the federal government to get to the root of our affordability crisis and ensure that every resident in California and beyond has a roof over their heads,” said Catherine Bracy, Executive Director and Co-Founder of TechEquity Collaborative. “The tech workers we represent have not been as deeply affected financially by the current crisis as many of our neighbors have. It’s important that we use our voices to speak up for them.”
The letter urged Congress to take the following actions immediately:
- Pass sweeping rental/debt relief for all households which are no longer able to pay their rents or mortgages as a result of COVID-19;
- Designate affordable housing as essential infrastructure in any future Infrastructure Stimulus package.
Signers included affordable housing and homelessness organizations, faith-based groups, labor councils, governmental agencies, foundations, and many other community organizations from around the state of California.
“We need an action plan now that offers crisis relief and crisis recovery, and this pandemic has exposed even more deeply how foundational housing is to the health of our communities and the success of our economy,” said Amie Fishman, Executive Director of the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California (NPH).
About TechEquity Collaborative
TechEquity Collaborative is a Bay Area-based organization building a movement of tech workers and companies who envision a world where a growing tech-driven economy creates opportunity for everyone, and where tech-sector employees and companies are engaged and active participants in making our communities better places to live. For more information about TechEquity, visit techequitycollaborative.org.
Media Contact
Marion Wellington, Associate Director of Communications at TechEquity Collaborative, marion@techequitycollaborative.org