Tenants Council Organizing Guide
Tenants are facing an unprecedented crisis in COVID-19. On top of the high rents and evictions happening before the pandemic even started, now thousands of renters are losing their jobs while landlords still demand exorbitant rents. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We can come together and organize tenant power to fight back! Solidarity is the key and organization is our weapon. This guide briefly describes how to start organizing tenants in your building, complex or neighborhood. If you’re interested in starting a Tenants Union or joining an existing one get, please get in touch with us.
To Contact Us: fill out this form or email us at chapelboro.housing@gmail.com.
Find Your Turf
The first step is determining who your fellow tenants are. If you live in an apartment building, it's your neighbors in your building and in the complex. But that might also include tenants in other buildings owned by your landlord. (If you live in a single family home, it's a little tougher but we can help!) Organizing tenants under the same landlord is important to be able to leverage demands. We can connect you with other tenants under the same landlord or help you find them using the county’s tax website in order to start locating tenants who share the same landlord.
Once you have decided where you are organizing, map it out! If you are organizing in a complex, map out the complex and how many buildings are in it. If you are organizing a block in your neighborhood, draw it out and determine how many houses are in it. This gives you a good idea of how many tenants you are trying to reach.
Local councils are the foundation of a union and are given autonomy on how to organize most effectively in their communities. If you are unsure on which type of council you should start organizing, just send us an email and we can follow up with you.
Here are some examples of local councils:
Building Councils
council of tenants in the same building or complex owned by one landlord or company.
Neighborhood Councils
council of people living in a specific neighborhood or block
Landlord Councils
council of tenants who have the same landlord, but live in different parts of the city
How to Talk to Fellow Tenants
Flyering in public spaces and social media are good tools for getting the word out, but the most important and effective way to organize your fellow tenants is a one on one conversation! With COVID-19, things are a little bit more difficult so we have to be creative! Leaving a flyer with an email/number to contact you is one way to start the conversation. If you aren’t comfortable using your own contact information, we can help set you up with a Google voice account or gmail for your local council. Or you can use our contact information at the top of this guide and we can be a go between for you and the other tenant.
Once you have made initial contact with someone, set up a follow up meeting. This can be done through an online meeting service like Zoom or Google Hangouts, or through a phone call.
Start by asking and listening
what are the issues they have with their landlord? Why are they interested in getting organized? Use questions to let them guide the conversations.
Explain the plan
not everyone is familiar with what tenants’ unions are and what they do. Explain why coming together as a group gives us the power to push our demands farther than individual actions.
Be honest about the risks
being a member of a tenants’ organization is protected in NC, but we know landlords and management will try to stop tenants from organizing at all costs. Explain that our best shield against retaliation is getting as many tenants organized as possible, but that landlords will try and fight back.
Be clear in your asks
making asks of others can be uncomfortable, but making clear and direct asks is the only way to get commitment! Be straightforward and ask them to join your local council and to commit to coming to the next meeting of tenants. If they commit to joining and being involved, ask them to talk to other tenants about joining your local.
Follow up
make sure to follow up with fellow tenants! Remind people about upcoming meetings and talking to other tenants.
Communicate
make sure you plug people in to communication channels that are accessible for everyone! Whether that’s a group text, email, or another method, make sure people can stay in touch and communicate easily.
Safety and precaution are critical right now! If you choose to reach out to fellow tenants by knocking on doors, make sure you stand at least six feet apart, use gloves, and bring hand sanitizer.
Flyering & Materials
DSA has general use flyers, posters, and pamphlets in our materials folder for tenant organizers to use. If you don’t have the ability to print at home, we can help out with printing.
When flyering for your local council, it's good to have specific flyers that mention the neighborhood/building and specific contact information for your local. They don’t have to be flashy! Just convey a clear message of why someone should join your tenant council and how to get connected. If you need assistance in getting a flyer created or need them printed, please contact us.
If you have a specific materials need other than literature, reach out to us and we will work to get you what you need.
Getting Organized
Once you have other tenants interested and plugged in, it's important to start meeting to get organized! While meeting in person is off the table right now, tools like Zoom and Google Hangouts can be effective ways to host virtual meetings. When hosting tenant organizing meetings, make sure to develop a quick agenda to ensure your call stays focused and people know what to expect before they join. Starting off a call by going around and asking why people are there/what they hope to get out of the meeting can help ground everyone. Make sure everyone gets a chance to speak and that no one is taking up too much space in the conversation.
Crafting effective demands is a crucial component in building your council’s power. Demands should be specific and targeted to your landlord. What are specific issues that tenants on the call have and how can you win those demands from your landlord? What you individually might see as the most pressing issue might differ from other tenants, so it is critical to hear from everyone and build demands that have buy in from the whole group. Make sure that everyone understands what the demands are and they are easily explained to other tenants. See the Philly Tenants’ Union organizing guide for a deeper look at how to build demands.
Get your Council going
Once you have a set of demands it’s time to start getting organized! Start delegating tasks and determining roles. Who will set up tenant meeting calls? Who will prepare flyers? Who will write up the demands? Who will send out petitions? Make sure that work is evenly distributed and no one is taking up too many duties. Organizing is most effective when everyone has a role and everyone’s contribution is respected. Make sure your council has a steward (see section below for more info) and that your council is in touch with us.
Tactics
Tactics are the methods your council uses to press your demands against your landlord and win. Tactics should start small and build up in escalating actions, in order to effectively use your collective power. Here is an example of escalating actions a council could take in support of their demands:
- Get tenants to sign a petition in support of your demands. Send a letter to your landlord stating your demands.
- Ask for a meeting with your landlord to make your demands directly.
- Get tenants and the community to “phone zap” your landlord’s office by calling in mass and pushing your demands.
- Threaten a rent strike: if your demands aren’t met, tenants will cease paying rent.
Local tenants will know their conditions best and will be best suited to determine the tactics that are most effective for them. Rent strikes are both our most powerful and most risky tool. They require the most buy in from tenants and are grounds for eviction. Consider them as a tactic to use when all others are ineffective.
Stewards
Stewards are the lead organizers for building and neighborhood councils. They make sure that other tenants are keeping up with tasks, that tenants are informed of updates from ongoing actions against their landlord, and communicating needs to the Organizing Committee. If your local needs more flyers and other materials, a steward would reach out and communicate that need quickly. Stewards fill a critical role in keeping local councils organized and moving. Stewards should be checking in with tenants and helping to make sure that everyone’s voice is being heard.
Initially, stewards are self selected by signing up but once your local is well-organized they should be democratically elected by the group.
If you have any questions about being a steward, please contact us by email or phone.