The Future of Housing Organizing: Tenant Unions

# Rents are up more than 20% across the United States since 2020, and more than 22 million households are rent-burdened, paying more than 30% of their income in rent and utilities. Evictions are on the rise, with filings up 50% over pre-pandemic averages in many cities.

The answer from developers, which serves their interests, is to build, build, build. They say the problem is underproduction. But even though multifamily housing has boomed in the past two years — with higher levels of production than the previous 50 years — the new units are mostly rented at market rate, not meeting the needs of working people.

For tenants, the market itself is the problem, prioritizing profits for landlords over safe and secure homes for the rest of us. Tenants unions can shift the balance of power and serve as a step towards just housing policy.