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from the this-is-the-most-2020-thing-of-2020-yet dept.
Gig Economy Company Launches Uber, But for Evicting People:
"SINCE COVID-19 MANY AMERICANS FELL BEHIND IN ALL ASPECTS," reads the website copy. The button below this statement is not for a GoFundMe, or a petition for calling for rent relief. Instead, it is the following call to action, from a company called Civvl: "Be hired as eviction crew."
During a time of great economic and general hardship, Civvl aims to be, essentially, Uber, but for evicting people. Seizing on a pandemic-driven nosedive in employment and huge uptick in number-of-people-who-can't-pay-their-rent, Civvl aims to make it easy for landlords to hire process servers and eviction agents as gig workers.
Helena Duncan, a Chicago-based paralegal who also participates in housing activism, saw a Craigslist post from Civvl while searching for jobs. The ad alarmed her.
"It's fucked up that there will be struggling working-class people who will be drawn to gigs like furniture-hauling or process-serving for a company like Civvl, evicting fellow working-class people from their homes so they themselves can make rent," she told Motherboard.
[...] At the time of writing, Civvl and OnQall did not return requests for comment, but did appear to block the author's IP address from visiting OnQall.com.
There is a federal ban on evictions, declared by the CDC, but landlords are still attempting to press on. There is a penalty for violating the ban, which can include a combination of fines and jail time. Civvl did not respond to a question about how the company ensures evictions are legal, though based on the Terms of Service, it appears to pass all risk onto the companies using its platform, stating that it simply "provides lead generation to independent contractors," and does not actually carry out the work itself.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday September 29 2020, @05:53PM (5 children)
So, I'm a renting landowner and homeowner. The economy has crashed down around my ears, and 65 of my 100 tenants tell me that it is impossible to pay the rent. Half the other 35 are paying later and later. I kick them all out - and I'm still getting no rent for those units. Advertising is ineffective, no one has money to pay for rent. I lower my rent prices, repeatedly, and no one has the money, my units still sit idle.
Months (or years) later, the economy begins to recover, but now, despite the fact that some people have money, no one WANTS to live in my rental units, at any price. In fact, people are skulking around in the night, setting my rental units on fire!!
Damn, maybe I've screwed myself? Maybe I should have just left people alone, maybe even worked with them? The people living in a rental unit would have provided some degree of security and protection for my properties!!
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 29 2020, @06:01PM
Don't worry, its just the invisible hand telling you to get out of the market.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 29 2020, @07:15PM
I'm sorry your investment is not making money. Would you like some free money? Can't be letting you take the downside like that.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Tuesday September 29 2020, @07:22PM
Why didn't you anticipate this in May?
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 29 2020, @10:25PM (1 child)
Yeeesh, nice propaganda piece you got there. LIVE IN FEAR YOU SUBURB DENIZENS ANTIFA IS COMING FOR YOUUUUUU!!!
Lol you wackjob
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 30 2020, @12:12AM
No Peace, Anywhere