[burkaman]

Those are both potentially morally acceptable. If you are on the verge of starving and have no money and no other source of food, it's ok to steal something from a grocery store. If you are on the verge of homelessness and have no money and no other source of shelter, it's ok to not pay your rent.

I'm sure there's a moral framework where it's never acceptable to hurt someone else when you could sacrifice yourself instead, but I don't think that's a particularly common school of thought. More often people will weigh two potential harms to make a decision, like "I can't pay my rent, but property taxes and foreclosures have been suspended during the pandemic, so my landlord will likely suffer less harm than I would if I became homeless."

Finally, "can't pay the rent" doesn't necessarily mean silently fail to mail a check. It might mean talking to the landlord about a payment plan, or frankly telling them you have no money and can't even afford food for the week. Landlords are humans, just like grocers who might give food to a starving person

[erik_seaberg]

If you're starving, stealing from the food delivery network is about the worst thing you could do about it. Robbing random strangers in the street would do less damage than victimizing the specific people you depend on.