In an economic crash, people are faced with tough decisions. Do they pay the light bill or the car payment? Do they ensure food is on the table or is the priority to make sure there is a place to put the table?

With so much uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic, renters all over the nation began to panic. With job loss plaguing the country, relief slow to come, and a future that is less than uncertain, renters were faced with that difficult question: buy food or pay the rent?

One Brooklyn landlord made the decision a no-brainer for his tenants. While tenants were scrambling to figure out how they were going to cover rent and other basic needs, Mario Salerno posted this note on is building.

“Please note I am waiving rent for the month of April 2020. Stay safe, help your neighbors, and wash your hands!!!”

Salerno went above and beyond for his residents and canceled rent for everyone in April.

With around 200 residents, Salerno is their personal hero.

Salerno told NBC New York, “I want everybody to be healthy. That’s the whole thing. For me, it was more important for people’s health and worrying about who could put food on whose table. I say don’t worry about paying me, worry about your neighbor and worry about your family.”

Salerno’s residents told The New York Times that Salerno, “alleviated a huge amount of stress that I have been having with the unemployment system in the state.”

According to NY Curbed, there are close to 215,000 pending eviction cases in NYC alone when the pandemic eviction policy runs out in October.

Salerno isn’t the only person to cancel rent in the Tri-State area. Over in Montclair, NJ, just on the other side of the bridge from New York City, lived another generous landlord.

David Placek told his residents they could skip their April, May, and June rent. Originally, Placek and his wife, Bridget, had emailed their dozen residents and told them to remit the next two months of payments but upon further examination realized life would not be back to normal by June and extended their plan.

“We should all do our part, and it’s something we can do. It provides a little bit of good news to people in a world where there’s no good news, and I think that’s meaningful,” Placek said to NJ.com. “The idea was just, let’s relieve some stress from our tenants.”

Placek has encouraged his tenants to shop with local businesses instead of paying their rent to spread some of the joy. While businesses are struggling all around us, Placek believes we can all do our part to help stop the financial devastation of this pandemic.

It has felt like 2020 has been full of one terrible moment after another but these two gentlemen prove that 2020 is full of wonderful people doing good in the world. You can find a silver lining in the worst of situations if you stop to look.

Be sure to watch Salerno’s interview with NBC New York below. If nothing else, his accent will bring a smile to your face.

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Source: Unilad, NJ.com, NY Curbed, The New York Times, NBC New York