"Unemployment is at a record high and many cannot or simply are not paying rent and mortgages... "We are being contracted by frustrated property owners and banks to secure foreclosed residential properties." -Civvl
A new startup company called Civvl is placing Craigslist ads across the country for gig workers to evict those who have fallen behind on rent during the pandemic, who can earn "up to 125/hour" for their services.
"Be hired as an eviction crew," reads another ad.
As Vice reports:
During a time of great economic and general hardship, Civvl aims to be, essentially, Uber, but for evicting people. Seizing on a pandemic-driven nosedive in employment and huge uptick in number-of-people-who-can't-pay-their-rent, Civvl aims to make it easy for landlords to hire process servers and eviction agents as gig workers.
"It's fucked up that there will be struggling working-class people who will be drawn to gigs like furniture-hauling or process-serving for a company like Civvl, evicting fellow working-class people from their homes so they themselves can make rent," Chicago-based paralegal and housing activist, Helena Duncan, told Vice.
Civvl uses catchy gig economy language such as "be your own boss," and "flexible hours!" or "Looking for self-motivated individuals with positive attitudes."
"FASTEST GROWING MONEY MAKING GIG DUE TO COVID-19," their website read. "Literally thousands of process servers are needed in the coming months due courts being backed up in judgements that needs to be served to defendants."
The website also featured a quote, attributed to The New York Times: "Too many people stopped paying rent and mortgages thinking they would not be evicted." A search reveals this phrase hasn't appeared in the Times. The company did not respond to requests for comment or a source for this quote, but the mention of the Times has since disappeared from its website. -Vice
Civvl is connected to another gig economy company, OnQall - an app which describes itself as providing "on-demand task services to non-urban communities beyond main city areas." The company is heavy on using celebrities of various grades to promote their platform.
To put the business of OnQall more simply, Ice-T said in an apparent Cameo video, "It's basically Uber, for side hustle jobs. You dig it?" Ice-T's representative did not respond to a request for comment. Another vertically-shot selfie video from Omarosa Manigault Newman, offers generic words of congratulations to OnQall's CEO, Paul Francis, on his app.
"Mrs Newman is NOT associated with Civvl," A spokesperson for Omarosa told VICE. "That video is certainly a cameo and should be credited as such." -Vice
Read the rest of the report here.
