Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the squad member in question, was able to rake in over $100,000 in rental income throughout the pandemic while at the exact same time co-sponsoring a bill to implement a nationwide cancellation of rents and home mortgage payments.
As reported by Fox News Digital, Tlaib’s annual financial disclosures for 2021 unveiled a property owned in Detroit that was able to collect between $15,001 and $50,000 in rental income, which just so happens to be the same total from the same property back in 2020.
An article from the Detroit News stated last year that Tlaib’s residential property was appraised to be worth $100,000 to $250,000.
Michigan Rising Action made the argument that Tlaib’s collection of rental income is an outright “insult to every landlord who is unable to collect rent from tenants to make ends meet,” exclaimed Eric Ventimiglia, as reported by the Detroit News.
Despite all the claims, one spokesperson for the squad member tried to defend her right to collect rental income from her property in Detroit.
“There is no contradiction between advocating for an eviction moratorium and rental relief and having a great relationship with a long-term tenant in a single rental home,” exclaimed Adrienne Salazar, a spokeswoman for Tlaib, as reported by The Detroit News.
“Rep. Tlaib is an unwavering advocate for tenants, has worked to get rental assistance out to landlords to keep people housed, and remains focused on advocating for residents during this pandemic,” she exclaimed.
Tlaib stood with her fellow representatives Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and many other members of the House over the early stages of the pandemic in order to so-sponsor the Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act, a bill to set up the cancellation of rents and home mortgage payments all over the country for the entire duration of the coronavirus pandemic.
This insane bill, however, was never able to get its legs under it to make it past the floor of the Senate, which at the time it was proposed was under the control of a Republican majority.
Tlaib and the others attempted to set the bill back up in March of 2021 to try and set up the rent cancellation for a one-year span.
A report from Fox News last year stated that one of the co-sponsors for the bill, Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), also raked in rent incoming from a property they own in Boston to the tune of between $5,000 to $15,000 throughout 2020.
Pressley stated when the bill first went public that housing is a primary determinant of public health and that no one should be forced to make the choice between food or shelter throughout a global crisis.