For many landlords, it’s been a difficult choice deciding between delaying their own mortgage payments (or lowering their payroll) and potentially leaving tenants facing eviction. But for Salerno, the choice was easy; if he could make the crisis that has resulted due to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus, a little bit easier on his tenants, that’s what he was going to do.
Salerno, who owns 18 apartment buildings in the Williamsburg area, posted notes on the front door to notify residents on March 30 that their rent wasn’t going to be due. He was not even delaying payments either; instead, he was canceling them.
He wrote, “Due to the recent pandemic of Coronavirus covid-19 affecting all of us, please note I am waiving rent for the month of April, 2020.”
“STAY SAFE, HELP YOUR NEIGHBORS & WASH YOUR HANDS!!!” Salerno further added.
New York City has been the hardest-hit area in the United States by the CCP virus. As a result, people across the city are asked to remain largely at home unless they’re designated essential workers. This has resulted in thousands of workers staying home and potentially losing out on paychecks.
The high cost of living for the metro area has left a significant number of residents living in rented dwellings and many of those who live paycheck to paycheck worried without income for weeks. “I had a lot of people telling me they don’t know how they will pay next month’s rent,” Salerno said.
Salerno, who owns about 80 apartments in Williamsburg and with about 200–300 tenants, would likely be losing out on a significant chunk of his own income by canceling rent for his tenants, but he explained that his first priority was everyone’s health. “I’m really not concerned about the rent right now, I’m concerned about peoples’ health,” Salerno said.
“Not only are we up against an epidemic, these poor people have no jobs and they’re worried about getting sick. I didn’t think it was much on a person like me, who god was good to, to help them all out,” he further added.
In addition, the kindhearted landlord who received appreciation reminded people to make sure to “look out for your neighbor.”
However, Salerno’s good deeds don’t just stop at waiving rent; Salerno, who runs Salerno Auto Body Shop and gasoline station during the day, keeps his shop open even though gasoline sales have dropped.
Although he admitted that he doesn’t necessarily want to be working on people’s cars during the pandemic, he wanted to make sure no first responders were left without their brakes checked or their oil changed when they needed to get to work.
“Do I really want to do a simple oil change and a brake job?” he told the New York Times via phone. “No, but I have a lot of doctors and nurses who need their cars serviced.”
