Please leave this field empty
Donate Monthly Make a Gift Renew Your Membership Ways to Give
Food & Water Watch Food & Water Watch Food & Water Watch
  • About
  • Problems
  • Campaigns
  • Impacts
  • Research
  • Contact
Donate Monthly Make a Gift Renew Your Membership Ways to Give
  • facebook
  • twitter
Please leave this field empty
Food & Water Watch Food & Water Watch
$
Menu
  • About
  • News
  • Research Library
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Donate
Search
Please leave this field empty
  • facebook
  • twitter

With Evictions Resuming and Water Justice Measures Still Unimplemented, Mayor Young Has Set Baltimoreans Up to Fail

Just weeks prior to Governor Hogan lifting Maryland’s eviction moratorium, Mayor Young issued executive order postponing implementation of Water Accountability & Equity Act; Baltimore residents to be unjustly evicted over water bills 
 

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • google-plus
  • envelope

We all need safe food and clean water.

Donate
By Jorja Rose
07.30.20

Baltimore, MD -- The Baltimore Right to Water Coalition learned last week that Mayor Jack Young has blocked implementation of the Water Accountability & Equity Act (WAEA) indefinitely through an unreleased Executive Order signed on July 8, 2020. The order delays the effective date of the law from July 13, 2020, until 30 days after the end of the COVID-19 state of emergency, indefinitely blocking water protections for Baltimore’s tenants. The unpublicized executive order comes amid growing fear of an eviction “avalanche,” as the Maryland Judiciary’s moratorium on evictions expired last week. By blocking tenants’ protections under the WAEA, Mayor Young’s executive order risks increasing the number of evictions brought by landlords to collect unpaid water bills. 

The timing of the Executive Order, signed less than one week before the WAEA was set to become law, continues a pattern of inaction on equitable water billing in which the Mayor neglected the legislative process, then slow-walked implementing regulations, and finally introduced legislation to delay the WAEA’s effective date by 12 months. By withholding the order from the public, the Mayor is hiding his decision to undercut a program Baltimore City was legally required to implement. Under the current billing system, tenants need their landlords to proactively add them to water accounts to receive bills, qualify for assistance, or dispute incorrect bills. For many renters, this makes it virtually impossible to get the necessary help. The WAEA gives tenants “customer” status -- providing them a clear pathway to apply for assistance and to dispute incorrect bills, even if they have an absentee landlord. 

“Mayor Young invoking coronavirus as a reason to indefinitely delay the implementation of the Water Accountability & Equity Act is an absolute failure of leadership,” says Rianna Eckel, Senior Maryland Organizer with Food & Water Action. “Baltimoreans can lose their housing due to unaffordable water bills, an injustice that implementing this crucial piece of water affordability legislation could help prevent. It is never right for families to be forced out onto the street because they can’t pay their water bills or rent, but in the midst of a pandemic, it is especially egregious. Young may blame COVID-19 for his inaction, but this move is just another example of how the administration is undermining this vitally important legislation. There is simply no excuse.” 

“Although a Court of Appeals ruling says landlords cannot include water in failure to pay rent cases, they can ask the court to evict tenants for breach of lease, if paying the water bills is part of the lease,” says Amy Hennen, Director of Advocacy and Financial Stabilization at the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service. “The courts are prioritizing breach of lease actions right now. This puts tenants, who haven’t been able to pay large water bills (because their landlord won’t assist them in getting a reduction), at particular risk. This is cruelty for struggling Baltimore residents right now.”

“This might be the only example during this crisis when a Maryland leader has invoked COVID-19 to purposely weaken rights and legal protections that were legislated for the benefit of vulnerable populations,” says Zafar Shah, Attorney at the Public Justice Center. “The Mayor has done a lot of good during the emergency, but this executive order is a major misstep. People need affordable water and stable housing right now, not delays and politics.”

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version

Monsanto's Roundup is a "probable human carcinogen." We need to ban it!

Get the latest on your food and water with news, research and urgent actions.

Please leave this field empty

Latest News

  • BLUE COMMUNITIES: Learn What They Are And Get Started

    BLUE COMMUNITIES: Learn What They Are And Get Started

  • Tom Vilsack’s Cozy Relationship With Big Ag Makes Him A Non-Starter at USDA

    Tom Vilsack’s Cozy Relationship With Big Ag Makes Him A Non-Starter at USDA

  • Trump’s Out, Biden’s In! Now The Fight Of Our Lives On Climate Begins.

    Trump’s Out, Biden’s In! Now The Fight Of Our Lives On Climate Begins.

See More News & Opinions

For Media: See our latest press releases and statements

Food & Water Insights

Looking for more insights and our latest research?

Visit our policy & research library
  • Eversource’s Plan to Privatize New Hartford’s Water

  • The Urgent Case for a Moratorium on Mega-Dairies in New Mexico

  • Fracking, Power Plants and Exports: Three Steps for Meaningful Climate Action

Fracking activist with stickersFracking activist in hatLegal team loves family farmsFood & Water Watch organizer protecting your food

Work locally, make a difference.

Get active in your community.

Food & Water Impact

  • Victories
  • Stories
  • Facts
  • Trump, Here's a Better Use for $25 Billion

  • Here's How We're Going to Build the Clean Energy Revolution

  • How a California Activist Learned to Think Locally

Keep drinking water safe and affordable for everyone.

Take Action
food & water watch logo
en Español

Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold & uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people’s health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.

Food & Water Watch is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Food & Water Action is a 501(c)4 organization.

Food & Water Watch Headquarters

1616 P Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20036

Main: 202.683.2500

Contact your regional office.

Work with us: See all job openings

  • Problems
    • Broken Democracy
    • Climate Change & Environment
    • Corporate Control of Food
    • Corporate Control of Water
    • Factory Farming & Food Safety
    • Fracking
    • GMOs
    • Global Trade
    • Pollution Trading
  • Solutions
    • Advocate Fair Policies
    • Legal Action
    • Organizing for Change
    • Research & Policy Analysis
  • Our Impact
    • Facts
    • Stories
    • Victories
  • Take Action
    • Get Active Where You Live
    • Organizing Tools
    • Find an Event
    • Volunteer with Us
    • Live Healthy
    • Donate
  • Give
    • Give Now
    • Give Monthly
    • Give a Gift Membership
    • Membership Options
    • Fundraise
    • Workplace Giving
    • Planned Giving
    • Other Ways to Give
  • About
  • News
  • Research Library
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Donate
Learn more about Food & Water Action www.foodandwateraction.org.
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • 2021 © Food & Water Watch
  • www.foodandwaterwatch.org
  • Terms of Service
  • Data Usage Policy