Tenants' rights laws vary widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and enforcement
of these laws is often difficult. Whether tenants' rights laws are strong or weak,
tenants can exercise their rights far more effectively if they organize to do
so collectively.
Often tenants live in multi-unit buildings or complexes. Sometimes, the landlord
of a problem building owns other problem buildings in the neighborhood. Other
times tenants with shared problems (but without a common landlord) can organize
to affect government policies regarding that problem. There’s safety and
power in numbers; more pressure can be applied to a recalcitrant landlord or
a lax code enforcement employee. The larger the group of tenants working together
for improvements, the more likely that tenants will win their objectives.
Many manuals on how to organize a tenants;' group have been written by tenant
rights advocates around the country. These manuals are useful for general tips
on the process of getting tenants to work together effectively and they also
contain good ideas for steps that groups may take to win improvements. Note
that because legal rights vary greatly from place to place, you should not rely
on advice that depends on specific laws that do not apply in your community.
Tenants' rights advocates in your community may be able to provide you with
materials and assistance that’s tailored to your local situation.
The TenantNet
website contains a comprehensive
manual on how to organize a tenants group, published by the Lenox
Hill Neighborhood Association in New York City.
The Federation of Metro Tenant Associations in Toronto (Ontario, Canada) has
a tenant
organizing manual and a host of other resources
for tenants.
The Tenants Union
of Washington State website has written a tenant
organizing manual for tenants who live in Section 8 housing. (Section
8 is a federal rental assistance program for low and moderate income families.)
While some of the advice is written specifically for Section 8 tenants, much
of the manual applies to all tenant organizing efforts.
