Will Coronavirus Impact Freelancers’ Ability to Rent?

By Charlotte Ivan

How a virus can reveal a society’s inherent fragility.

When I moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in filmmaking, I had no full-time job lined up. This was a frequent topic of conversation for friends and family, whose faces twisted in confusion and concern when I candidly presented them with that fact. When you say you’re moving to California, the most common reactions you’re likely to receive are characterized by playful jealousy or strident disdain. When you say you’re moving to California without a job, the reactions are unanimously perturbed.

Los Angeles is somewhat of an anomaly in that it really isn’t that unusual to move there without a job. People do it quite literally every day, and have been for decades. For anyone else, though, who either has never worked in the industry or comes from a family where the word freelance is somehow equated with unemployed, I was doing something pretty risky and stupid.

If I’d had one or two checks for $300 to present him from a few gigs in town, would it have made a difference?

Before I had arrived, I found a reasonably priced room in a neighborhood that was close to all the major studios. My roommate would be a young actress, so at the very least we’d have some solid common ground. It seemed perfect. I filled out the application, provided proof of savings, and offered several months rent up front to compensate for my lack of employment, but to no avail.

The landlord had no intention of renting the room to someone who was essentially unemployed, and I didn’t want a parent to be a guarantor because it would mean my family was responsible for the entire rent of the apartment, not just my portion. Honestly, I don’t particularly blame him for that choice. If I was a landlord, I’m not sure it would ever make sense to rent to someone without a job when you could just rent to someone who does have one.

Yet, I can’t help but feel disappointed by American culture being slightly wary of self-employment. Ironically, one could argue self-employment is foundational to the roots of American society. Still, your work is classified as unstable, even if highly lucrative at times.

My situation was unique in that once I started working, proof of income wouldn’t have been an issue. I had several projects lined up, and I wanted to secure a place to live before I moved. Although I’d offered several months rent up front, the landlord I’d been in contact with didn’t want to risk me not finding work in the largest industry in town. If I’d had one or two checks for $300 to present him from a few gigs in town, would it have made a difference?

This situation is complicated to begin with. In the wake of coronavirus, though, I wonder how things like the rental market will shift gears to adjust for renting to freelancers in the long run.

Is this the beginning of a new era?

Coronavirus, as every article on the subject has made abundantly clear in recent months, has wreaked havoc on the housing and rental market. There are millions of Americans out of work, many of whom have to make the difficult decision of paying for food rather than their monthly rent.

Those lucky enough to have immediately received unemployment checks have at least some protection from making these difficult choices. But for freelancers and independent contractors, the story has always been a bit more complicated.

The process of actually receiving compensation has been incredibly complicated and at times, even paradoxical.

In the United States, freelancers were traditionally not eligible for standard unemployment benefits. However, in the wake of coronavirus, legislation has been passed that can benefit self-employed workers. The Coronavirus Aid, Response, and Economic Security Act (CARES) and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) provide freelancers with unemployment benefits. The amount of compensation workers are eligible to receive depends on location and previous income.

Upon reading recent articles about freelance unemployment benefits in my home state, however, it seems the process of actually receiving compensation has been incredibly complicated and at times, even paradoxical. Website glitches and bizarre loopholes have made filing a claim endlessly frustrating.

For example, if a freelancer had received both a 1099 tax form and a W2 throughout the year, the state portal will tell them to apply for the standard unemployment benefits even though the applicants already know they don’t qualify. Not to mention, if you’re already struggling to make ends meet as it is, it might not be comforting to know you’ll only receive a portion of what you were making before.

When funds are finally distributed to those lucky enough to navigate and submit a claim through the portal, the compensation is due to end in 39 weeks. What happens then?

If longterm strategies aren’t in place for freelance workers to receive some kind of reliable aid in severe economic downturns, it could become increasingly difficult to convince anyone, including a landlord, of your financial security. In the span of two days, your entire livelihood could evaporate. No more film productions, no weddings to photograph, no clubs to sing in.

Will landlords be wary of renting to those who don’t have a reliable, significant way to receive funds in events such as the current? Thousands upon thousands of production workers and actors living in Los Angeles are using their precious funds for food or medical care, rather than paying rent.

Who can blame them? Housing and health care costs are astronimical across the board relative to wages in the United States, and is anyone really still blaming people for not having $20,000 in savings for a rainy day?

Where do we go from here?

Coronavirus is teaching us a lot of things. Disturbingly, it has taught us how fragile our circumstances are, and how quickly they can change. Landlords demanding money and self-employed workers who simply can’t pay; this is just one example of how small the safety net for freelance workers really was, and in someways, continues to be.

Will additional, permanent programs be put in place to protect individuals who don’t work 9–5 jobs? If not, it’s hard to know how freelancers’ ability to rent, receive a loan, buy a house, or any number of things will potentially change, as being self-employed is now riskier than ever in the eyes of society.

With stay-at-home orders in place, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on things. If I’ve come to any truth or realization from this situation, it’s this:

We all need laurels to rest on sometimes, not just those of us who can afford it.

This article was originally posted in Medium.

https://medium.com/swlh/will-coronavirus-impact-freelancers-ability-to-rent-ae11f2847bab

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