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The Tenant Toolkit: How Accessible Resources Can Empower Tenants for Self-Advocacy
Abbie Leonard, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri Confusion and misinformation about tenants’ rights and housing law consistently challenge our work in the Housing Law unit at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (LSEM) in St. Louis. Coupled with well-resourced landlords and skewed laws fueling a stark power imbalance between tenants and landlords, this challenging landscape negatively Continue reading
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We Have a Right to Recovery!
Dana Jones is a native Houstonian and life-long activist. In 1992, she moved into a home in northwest Houston that provided a safe haven for her and her family. However, over the years, the house faced disaster after disaster, and the systems meant to help homeowners recover from such devastation failed her due to bureaucratic Continue reading
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The National Tenants Bill of Rights: A Roadmap for Local, State, and Federal Protections
When people struggle to pay rent, every aspect of their lives is harder. While much of the housing crisis debate focuses on increasing housing supply, building more units alone will not fix our broken housing system. Robust tenant protections are needed to address the power imbalance between landlords and tenants that fuels racial inequity and Continue reading
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Homeowners, Renters, and Households of All Incomes Back Housing Reforms
Households throughout the country, particularly those with the lowest incomes, are struggling with the high cost of housing because of decades of underbuilding, high construction costs, and the resulting shortage of homes for sale and for rent, all combined with inadequately funded housing assistance. A national survey released in late 2023 shows strong support for state and municipal policies to allow… Continue reading
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From Activism to Elected Office: Supervisor Dean Preston and the Movement for Tenants’ Rights
This article is adapted from an interview with Dean Preston, founder of Tenants Together and member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Supervisor Dean Preston began his career in the early 2000s as a tenant attorney in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. Preston frequently defended tenants who were at risk of eviction because of state Continue reading
On the Home Front 