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Chapter 8:  Organizing

Organize, Organize, Organize! Why and How

City Life supports and encourages the formation of “tenant unions” and “resident associations” wherever possible! Simply put, when ordinary people, like ourselves, face the power of real estate money, we need to be organized. Our cooperation and solidarity, our willingness to work together toward common goals – in other words, our organizing – is the only thing that gives us power.

There are many kinds of tenant organizations. Some are made up of tenants who all live in one building or complex owned by the same landlord. Others are made up of tenants from many different buildings (with different landlords) who come together to support each other in fighting eviction or rent increase. Some tenant groups are more formal, with by-laws and elected leadership. Others are informal, operating by consensus with volunteer leadership.

In Jamaica Plain and Egleston Sq., the Campaign of Conscience for an Affordable and Diverse Community, supported by City Life and the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, has promoted all of these forms of organizing. Some buildings have their own tenant associations. In other buildings, only individuals are active. These individuals as well as some of the tenant associations come together every 3-4 weeks in neighborhood meetings. In these meetings, we talk about legal rights and we plan actions about how, together, we can protect all of our homes.

You don’t have to have any legal documentation (of residency or anything else) to form a tenant organization. You just start acting like one. The important thing is that residents support each other.

Your right to organize is protected under the law! It is illegal for your landlord or anyone else to act in retaliation (by threatening you, trying to evict you or anything else) for joining a tenant association.

What are the benefits of Tenant Associations?

  • Know Your Rights - In tenant meetings you can learn about the legal rights you have as a tenant
  • Social Support - It’s hard to face eviction or rent increases alone. When you are organized, you get the social support you need to use your legal rights
  • Collective Bargaining - This phrase is commonly associated with labor unions. Tenants should know what labor unions have long known – “don’t bargain individually!” When you bargain collectively (as a group) you are stronger.
  • Getting Public Support - The movement to protect our homes is a fight for justice. It isn’t just a legal struggle. That’s why we need public support. It is easier to get that – including media attention – when you’re organized.
  • Developing Common Strategy - Sometimes, we need to hold rallies or demonstrations to defend our homes. Obviously, this cannot be done alone.
  • Influencing Government - Government policies, regulations, and money often have a big impact on what we are able to do and how far we are able to get in the struggle to defend our homes. Pooling our resources and our energy in tenant organizations and coalitions, we are able to better access these resources.

 

City Life and other grassroots organizations have seen, over and over again, how tenant organizing can produce victories that many people thought were impossible. And in every case, organizing produces results that are always better than going-it-alone!

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Why it is now especially important that tenants know their rights

2. What is a Tenant, really?

  • The tenant-landlord relationship
  • Rights and Responsibilities
  • The 3 Main Forms of Tenancy
  • Leases
  • Tenants at Will
  • Tenants at Sufferance
  • The Water Bill
  • Keep Records Now, Avoid Problems Later

3. Housing: What There is and How to Access It

  • Regular Market Housing
  • Public Housing
  • The Section 8 Program
  • Privately Owned, Subsidized Apartments

4. Security Deposit and Last Month’s Rent

  • What is a Security Deposit and how to make sure it is being used properly
  • What is the Last Month’s Rent payment and how to make sure it is being used properly
  • Security Deposit and Last Month’s Rent for Section 8 Tenants

5. Bad or Unhealthy Conditions in your Apartment

  • The laws and codes that protect tenants from living in unsafe or unhealthy conditions
  • Steps you can take to get your landlord to make repairs
  • Options you have if your landlord refuses to make repairs
  • Can my landlord come into my apartment whenever he wants to?

6. Childhood Lead Poisoning, Asthma, and Your Home

  • Lead Paint and Childhood Lead Poisoning
  • What is Lead and Why Would it be in My Home?
  • How Can My Child be Exposed to Lead?
  • What does Lead Poisoning do to My Child?
  • How to Protect Your Child From Lead Poisoning (including The New “Lead Law”)
  • Asthma and Your Home
  • What is Asthma?
  • What are My Landlord’s Responsibilities in Keeping the Apartment Safe from Asthma Triggers?
  • Some Changes You Can Make at Home to Decrease Contact with Asthma Triggers

7. Eviction and Rent Increase

  • Eviction
  • Don’t Be Intimidated – Only a judge can evict you
  • Act Now: Make Contacts, Organize, and Negotiate
  • “Notice to Quit” and “Summary Process Writ”
  • Getting Legal Representation
  • “Discovery” – get more time
  • Your Defense, Counterclaims, and “Answer”
  • Some Common Defenses and Counterclaims In Court
  • Mediations and Agreements to Judgment
  • Judgments, “Execution”, and “Appeal”
  • “Stays of Execution”
  • Rent Increase
  • Don’t Panic! Don’t Move
  • Your Right to Resist and Negotiate

8. Organize, Organize, Organize! Why and How

  • Why it’s important for tenants to organize
  • Tenant Unions and Resident Associations
  • What are the Benefits of forming Tenant Associations?

9. City Life’s Healthy Homes – Healthy Families Program

  • About the program and how it can help you
  • The new Healthy Homes – Healthy Families Committee
  • Schedule of appointments

10. Tenants’ Resource List

  • Tenants’ Advocacy
  • Legal Help
  • Other Housing Needs
  • Homeless Issues
  • For Women (and Children) Leaving Abusive Relationships
  • Housing Health Issues

11. Housing Code Checklist