Protect tenants from extreme rent hikes
Safe and affordable housing is a human right
Anti-rent gouging efforts are strategies to protect tenants from predatory rent increases. These efforts or regulations are a way to stabilize rents. This can be done via policy with local or state governments and/or by organizing a tenants union. In a time where rent increases far out pace wages, especially minimum wage, anti-rent gouging efforts empower renters and continue to make housing more accesible for all while decreasing the risks of displacement. Efforts can include rent control (tied to specific unit and tenant of the unit), rent stabilization (caps annual rent increases), demanding reasonable rent increase notification.
Historical legacy of this work
Grassroots organizing addressing issues of urban renewal, discriminatory evictions and increasing residential segregation.
The Metropolitan Council on Housing is a tenants’ rights membership organization built by New York City tenants around their motto, “housing for people, not profit.” For more than 65 years, they’ve organized tenants to fight for safe, decent, affordable housing and stronger protections for all New Yorkers.
Keep Virginia Home is a statewide coalition of renters, allies, unions, local governments, and local and state elected officials who believe Virginia is for everyone—not just the wealthy—and that housing is a human right, not a commodity.
Real world examples
How to start
These efforts work best when implemented together. If you want to start a tenant's union, begin by gathering an initial organizing team consisting of 3 to 4 people who can get together and talk through your vision and what change you want to see. After you have a vision, you need to start reaching out to others whether its in the apartment complex or on your block. Start knocking on doors and be ready to listen, hear concerns, and collect responses. Finally, gather people together to foster collective power and decide on what change you want to see and what is actionable.
“Housing for people, not profit.”
Image: Legal Aid Justice Center and New Virginia Majority