Tenant Organizing

Tenants rights laws vary widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and enforcement of these laws is often difficult.  Whether tenants rights laws are strong or weak, tenants can exercise their rights far more effectively if they organize to do so collectively. 

Often tenants live in multi-unit buildings or complexes.  Sometimes, the landlord of a problem building owns other problem buildings in the neighborhood.  Other times tenants with shared problems (but without a common landlord) can organize to affect government policies regarding that problem.  There’s safety and power in numbers; more pressure can be applied to a recalcitrant landlord or a lax code enforcement employee.  The larger the group of tenants working together for improvements, the more likely that tenants will win their objectives.

Many manuals on how to organize a tenants group have been written by tenant rights advocates around the country.  These manuals are useful for general tips on the process of getting tenants to work together effectively and they also contain good ideas for steps that groups may take to win improvements.  Note that because legal rights vary greatly from place to place, you should not rely on advice that depends on specific laws that do not apply in your community.  Tenants rights advocates in your community may be able to provide you with materials and assistance that’s tailored to your local situation.

• The TenantNet web site contains a comprehensive manual on how to organize a tenants group (www.tenant.net/Organize/Lenox/lh-toc.html), published by the Lenox Hill Neighborhood Association in New York City.
  
• The Federation of Metro Tenant Associations in Toronto (Ontario, Canada) has a tenant organizing manual available at www.torontotenants.org/organizing%20manual.pdf.
  
• The Washington State Tenants Union web site has written a tenant organizing manual for tenants who live in Section 8 housing.  (Section 8 is a federal rental assistance program for low and moderate income families.)  While some of the advice is written specifically for Section 8 tenants, much of the manual applies to all tenant organizing efforts.  See www.tenantsunion.org/activism/organizing/section8organizing.html
  
• The Metropolitan Council on Housing (also in New York City) has a short piece on how to negotiate with your landlord at www.tenant.net/Alerts/articles/negotiating.html.