‘We have to make ourselves seen’: the New York rent strikers fighting eviction

Five residents on the battle to ensure affordable, safe housing after the end of the city's eviction moratorium

• Tell us the compromises you've made to get an apartment

When the coronavirus struck New York City in March 2020, an unprecedented number of tenants stopped paying rent. Many just couldn't afford it. Others demanded better conditions in their buildings. And some saw it as a way to call for structural change. This informal movement, organized around a call to cancel rent", was buoyed by a nearly two-year eviction moratorium, enacted to protect New Yorkers from losing their homes during the pandemic.

But with the moratorium expiring last month, have New York's tenants recovered, or are they at risk of losing their homes?