Three Big Things: Thankful For Tenant Movements

Image: Louisville Tenant Union Holds Press Conference (FQ photo)

This piece was originally posted on Fran Quigley’s blog Housing Is A Human Right

When it comes to the fight to realize the human right to housing, there is a lot to be frustrated about. But you have read here and in other publications, especially Waging Nonviolence and Jacobin, my descriptions of some of the inspiring tenant movements that are building momentum every day all across the country.  And you know that the history of social change shows that the path to big reform is not blazed by a benevolent politician or even concerned citizens: reform happens when it is demanded by movements led by persons directly affected by injustice.

Since this is the season of thanks, this issue of the newsletter gives thanks for three recent, inspiring developments brought to us by tenant leadership:

1.    Louisville Tenant Union Wins Anti-Displacement Ordinance.

You have read here and in Jacobin about the innovative anti-gentrification efforts led by the Louisville Tenant Union and partners who came together to form the Historically Black Neighborhood Assembly. Recall this from the article:

The Historically Black Neighborhood Ordinance targets an Achilles’s heel of the gentrification process: it is often deeply reliant on government funding. Developers have received millions of dollars from both the Louisville Metro Government and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to develop market-rate or nearly market-rate housing on the same sites where affordable housing once stood. The HBNO aims to cut off that supply. It would block the Louisville government from providing any resources — including money, land, or staff support — to development projects unless those projects can prove that they will be creating truly affordable housing . . .

The HBNO would require that a proposed development prove that its proposed rent or selling price is truly affordable housing for those living at the neighborhood’s median income, which in many historically Black neighborhoods is far below the overall area’s income. If the proposed development cannot prove that its housing will be affordable for those already living in the area, it is denied access to any city resources.

The ordinance would also prioritize existing residents of historically Black neighborhoods for down payment assistance, home repair funding, small business assistance, and other programs.

Well, here is the grateful holiday update: The tenants won!

In fact, the proposal, renamed and expanded to be an anti-displacement ordinance, passed the Louisville Metro Council unanimously on November 9th.

“This critical policy was written by tenants and will help to protect people all over the city of Louisville,” the LTU said in a social media statement. “From now on, Louisville tax dollars will no longer go to developers for projects that cause displacement. This happened because tenants organized. We only get what we’re organized to take.”

2.    Powerful New Short Documentary on KC Tenants.

KC Tenants out of Kansas City, Missouri is one of the most impactful and exciting tenant-led movements in the country. They have won ballot measures for affordable housing, shut down eviction courts, and have been featured in the New York Times (“The Rent Revolution is Coming,”)  NPR, and other national media.

Now KC Tenants is the subject of a terrific new short film, “Renter Revolt,” from Time magazine. Here is a link to the YouTube version. The cameras follow Jenay Manley, a young mother who has struggled with housing insecurity for most of her life.  We see Manley become a leader of KC Tenants. Then, with tenant union support behind her, she launches a dramatic, underdog run for a seat on the City Council.

If you have 19 minutes to spare and want to walk away both moved and inspired about the power of tenants to make real changes, I highly recommend this film.  

3.    First-Hand Witness of the Power of Organized Tenants.

Forgive me for making my third example a little personal. There are rules about how much I can say about an ongoing legal case where I represent the tenants involved. But I can attest first-hand to the inspiring power of tenant voices speaking up for their rights to safe and clean living conditions in hundreds of cases over recent years. Those include some larger cases our clinic and our partners at Indiana Legal Services work on, including this one and this one.  

(More later on how a lawyer/professor who is a big fan of public housing finds himself in the position of helping residents repeatedly sue a local public housing agency for safe and clean living conditions. . .)

Just last week, we had a court hearing that could have been another in the long line of exercises in abstraction that frustrate people about our justice system: lawyers argued to a judge about a proposed emergency order affecting renters’ living conditions—all of us talking about a building where none of us live.

But this time, multiple residents who are all seniors and/or living with disabilities made the trip to the courthouse to show the judge and all involved how important the issues in the case are to their daily lives. They are among dozens of residents who have levied official complaints about the housing conditions that are at the core of the lawsuit, and are some of the residents of the building now working with an organizer of a new local tenants association to build an even more powerful collective voice.

History shows: this is how change happens. I am grateful for the chance to see it in action.  And I am grateful that we all can witness and help support the tenant movements who will make a new reality for tenants across the country.

I wish everyone a peaceful and happy holiday weekend.