It took 13 years, but Alabama Arise’s efforts to win minimal protection for tenants finally bore fruit this year. The governor signed a bill to limit security deposits, define habitable dwellings and give a tenant the right to break a lease if necessary repairs are not made. (See article on Alabama Arise’s tenant work in SF #138.) The coalition also won an increase in the threshold at which a family of four below poverty level must pay income taxes from $4,600 to $12,000. That victory took 18 years to achieve. The group credited these breakthroughs to its persistent outreach to politicians and the media, as well as working closely with a variety of activist groups. (NLIHC)
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