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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.
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A Catalyst for Change in Oakland: Annette Miller
Community organizer Annette Miller has turned personal tragedy into a force for good. This video is part of Shelterforce’s Women of Color on the Front Lines series.
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Tenants Rights Advance in California
Reaction to the housing crisis in California has led to a series of gains for tenants, including a new Renters’ Caucus.
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 […]
Biden’s Renters Rights Blueprint: Meaningful or Not?
What should we make of the administration’s tenants rights announcement?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.