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rent control

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Two people with paper bird masks hold dollar bills. One wears a sign that says "Rent stabilized apartments generated $8 billion in net income for landlords last year."

Are NYC’s Rent-Stabilized Buildings Really in Crisis?

A two-year rent freeze, affecting about 1 million rent-stabilized apartments in New York, was just approved. Before the freeze passed, landlords said their buildings wouldn’t survive it. But recent analyses suggest the real culprit behind distressed buildings is predatory equity, not rent stabilization.

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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.
Policy

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?

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.
Community Land Trusts

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 Organizing

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.

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!"
Tenant Organizing

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.
Interview

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.
From the Field

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.

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.
Explainers

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."
Tenant Organizing

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."
Editor’s Note

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.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at a White House podium.
Policy

Biden Has Power to Impose Rent Control, Say Housing Advocates

There’s legal precedent for the administration to limit rent hikes at least on all buildings with federally backed loans.

An aerial view of East Palo Alto.
Housing

How Rent Control Helped Create East Palo Alto

The story of East Palo Alto’s incorporation is one marked by great contention among local stakeholders, but also provides valuable lessons for organizers in forging and mobilizing local coalitions.

Housing

Philly’s 1970s Fight to Revive Rent Control

As rent control reemerges as a strategy to address an intense housing crisis, we go back 50 years to examine the lessons learned from past struggles in Philadelphia.