Coronavirus: Maine landlord praised for not taking rent to ease financial burden on service and hourly workers
A landlord from Maine has been praised after he announced that he would not be taking rent from his tenants for April. Nathan Nichols made the announcement on Facebook as he said due to coronavirus many people, especially service and hourly workers, who may not be able to work in the coming months, are facing financial difficulties, and it would be inhumane to ask them for the rent.
Nichols said that he has already informed this to his tenants, who live in the two units he owns in South Portland. He has also urged other landlords to follow the same to mitigate economic hardship caused by COVID-19.
“COVID19 is going to cause serious financial hardship for service and hourly workers around the country. I own a two-unit in South Portland and all of my tenants are in this category. Because I have the good fortune and of being able to afford it and the privilege of being in the owner class, I just let them know I would not be collecting rent in April. I ask any other landlords out there to take a serious look at your own situation and consider giving your tenants some rent relief as well,” Nichols had written in his Facebook post.
He posted this message on social media on March 13, and since then the post has gone viral with over 16,000 shares and hundreds of people commenting on it for his noble act. One of the commenters, named Jonathan Campos, wrote: “You're an awesome man! I'm here in Bentonville, Arkansas and while I'm privileged to work from home due to Walmart's CEO Doug McMillan's directive, my fiance and I have a big concern for those who don't have that opportunity. You're a light in the darkness during this time! God bless you!”
While someone named Mary Anne Tobin commented, “Thank you for showing us that there are still wonderful compassionate people in this world. God Bless You!!”
Nichols also talked to WMTW regarding the same and said: “One of my units is one family with a small child on a single income that is hourly and I know that they are under financial stress a lot of the time. It would be a lot more expensive for me to lose a tenant than to give one month’s rent off.”
He also expressed his surprise over the positive reactions he got from social media and said he has not done anything extraordinary. “I am quite surprised and I am happy that it got shared a lot because I do seriously hope that people who have some privilege will see this and take a hard look and see what they can do. I am literally just not taking some money that people were giving me,” Nichols told WMTW.
Since its outbreak, coronavirus has affected millions around the world. The confirmed cases of the deadly disease across the world stands at 169,387 and it has claimed over 6,000 lives. China is the first country that witnessed this pandemic in December 2019 and has since lost thousands of people due to the disease. WHO has declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30, 2020.