Organizing

Community development relies on policies, resources, and recognition that were won by decades of organizing—and organizing remains essential to face new threats, preserve existing wins, and continue to fight back against the big lie that the way things are is inevitable.

The card for Women of Color, an interview with Kea Mathis.

Through Her Eyes: Community Organizing in Detroit

Kea Mathis organizes alongside tenants—mostly Black, women-led households—to create and support affordable, quality housing. "It is very hard . . . as a Black woman here, to be the one to try to ask the question first or stand up first,” says Mathis.

How to Build a YIMBY/Tenant Activist Bridge, a Shelterforce Webinar

Shelterforce’s investigative reporter Shelby R. King wrote two pieces about YIMBY (Yes in My Back Yard) groups in 2022, including one that focused on shared interests between YIMBY supporters and housing justice organizers.   The...
Two women in a crowd of protesters hold a big hand-lettered sign that says "Power to the tenants." Other people near and behind them are also holding signs.

Biden’s Renters Rights Blueprint: Meaningful or Not?

What should we make of the administration’s tenants rights announcement?
View from across the intersection of a rundown-looking corner in Baltimore, all two-story rowhouses. Some windows are boarded up. There are no cars or people in the scene.

Building Tenant Power: A Growing Movement Rises in Baltimore

Tenant organizing in Baltimore today is building on a rich legacy of tenant resistance in the city where residential redlining made its debut.

How These NYC Public Housing Residents Became Models for Tenant Rights Activism

Over generations, residents of the Cooper Park Houses in Brooklyn have created a blueprint for successful housing organizing.
Two women in a crowd of protesters hold a big hand-lettered sign that says "Power to the tenants." Other people near and behind them are also holding signs.

Tenant Advocates Wait for Action After Meeting with White House Officials

Tenants got to talk directly to the Biden administration about the need to rein in soaring rents. Will action follow?
Two people in dark winter coats stand at a table alongside a city street.

D.C. Street Vendors Push Back Against Criminalization

Street vendors are banding together to push back against police harassment, keep access to their usual locations, fight for better working conditions, and create sustainable businesses.
A close-up view of 11 glass-domed electric meters in an apartment building. The photo appears to be black and white at first glance, but is naturally a scene of varying shades of gray.

When a Problematic Landlord Is a Nonprofit

While in most cases having a nonprofit as a landlord is considered a win, it doesn’t prevent conflict with tenants. But organizers can take some different tactics when interacting with nonprofit landlords.
A sidewalk view of a front stoop where a man stands holding a bullhorn. Lined up on the sidewalk in front of him is a large group of people, many wearing CLVU's bright yellow-green T-shirts.

Boston Organizers Protect Individual Tenants, While Trying to Change the System

City Life/Vida Urbana is known for successful tenant union organizing and anti-eviction actions, but every individual action springs from a larger vision of system and policy change.

Tenant Protections Take a Step Forward in Maryland

Access to counsel in evictions is now funded statewide, and several other tenant protections have passed, but the Maryland effort shows that solidifying tenant protections can be a multiyear process.

All Tenants Get Right to Counsel in Kansas City

Pandemic evictions heightened the urgency. Then the campaign succeeded by finding local champions, presenting cost and benefit data, and spotlighting tenant narratives.
A view from below of the girders supporting a bridge.

Is a YIMBY/Tenant Activist Bridge Possible?

A culture war between housing justice advocates and YIMBYs began in 2014. While the groups have different priorities, they do have shared interests. Can they be allies or will the habitual quarreling keep them at odds?

How Organizers Won a Tenants Bill of Rights in Miami-Dade County

Responding to tenants’ top concerns, organizers pivoted from affordability issues to landlord accountability and won a package of new tenant protections.
Two campaign signs stand together near the base of a monument in Portland, Maine. The sign at right reads "Say NO to Rent Control (Again)!" The sign on the left has a red arrow pointing to the other sign, and the text says: "Your (still) rising rents paid for that lawn sign!"

How Portland, Maine, Passed Rent Control

Organizers drew broad support with a multi-pronged campaign and found ways to get signatures in a pandemic to win rent stabilization and a slate of other progressive laws.
An ad for Shelterforce's webinar, "Fighting Back Against Corporate Landlords." We had four speakers.

Fighting Back Against Corporate Landlords—A Shelterforce Webinar

Shelterforce recently hosted a conversation about how to fight, and win, against corporate landlords and their extractive business models. Watch the video or read the transcript.
On a bulletin board or thick cardboard backing are taped 11 clippings of news headlines, cartoons, and newsletter covers, all about the tenant organizing movement of the 1970s and '80s.

The Rise and Fall of the National Tenants Union

The National Tenants Union fought for tenant rights in the 1970s and early 1980s. One of the union’s founders reflects on the organization and what we might learn from those times.
One man holds a microphone and raises his other hand while speaking outside, and behind him, a person holds a white and black sign.

Organized Tenants Are Baaaaack

After a lull in the 1990s, the tenants rights movement reemerged and has only gained strength. What caused the resurgence and what do tenants’ prospects look like?
An illustration highlighting the 6 policies tenants are fighting for, including good cause eviction, right to habitability, right to counsel, rent regulation, tenant opportunity to purchase, and right to organize.

Tenant Protections 101

Tenant advocates have long been pushing for a “tenants bill of rights” to codify rules that protect renters from landlords. Here’s a rundown of the top protections housing justice activists say need to be included.
A group of adults and children stand with colorful orange, yellow and blue signs. One sign reads, "Stop increasing our Rent."

Top 6 Tenant Protections Renters Are Fighting For

Tenants are organizing together with increased urgency to get legal protections passed in their towns, cities, and states. What are the top protections tenants are fighting for?
An illustration show tenants rallying on the streets. Some have signs that read "Rent is Too Damn High." The illustration is part of Shelterforce's series "Tenant Power Returns."

Tenants Rights: It’s Not a Moment, It’s a Movement

In "Tenant Power Returns," Shelterforce examines how the energy and focus in the housing world is returning to tenant organizing.