#tenant-organizing

#tenant-organizing

I have lived all my life in Los Angeles, but I have never seen anything like the level of destruction we experienced this past January due to the fires that ripped through our neighborhoods. In real time, I saw the devastating impact of climate change. At the same time, landlords across the city were spiking rents because the wellbeing of their tenants was last on their list of considerations.

The Debt Collective is perhaps best known for the ripple effects of the small student loan repayment strike the group organized against a defunct for-profit college in 2015. The strike grew into a nationwide movement demanding justice for millions of people facing overwhelming student debt. By 2025, the Biden administration had approved $188.8 billion in student debt relief for more than 5 million people.

A cutting edge of mass organizing today lies with the tenant movement. Across the U.S., tenant unions have been exploding in growth and visibility. Thousands of tenants - from Los Angeles to Kansas City, from Chicago to Connecticut - have unionized in recent years. This is a bottom-up, multiracial, working-class movement that's directly countering the catastrophe of the U.S. housing system and the power of landlords with the collective power of tenants.

"Whenever we found another Bengali, we would engage in conversation. We would start with Salaam. What is your name? Are you a tenant?"