TENANT HORIZON ISSUE #3
- Valley Tenants Union
- Apr 3
- 13 min read
Updated: May 1
We’re back at it again with another issue of Tenant Horizon! It might be surprising that it’s coming so soon after the last gap in issues took many months. Why? We’re changing our goals with the (now monthly) newsletter. Previously, we mainly featured longform research, interviews, and other articles. Clearly, that takes a long time!
Now, shorter updates will be front and center. With plenty going on across the union, we want to make it easy to tap in. We’ve had issues with information being siloed, which prevents us from learning from each other’s experiences, so we’re tackling that head on this year. We’ll still include interviews and other analyses, but at a different pace.
That’s not the only change: our annual reflection led us to dissolve our locals in favor of outreach projects. “What’s happening in our neighborhoods?” touches on why we’d drop overly broad locals and focus on a couple of neighborhoods. We’re also prioritizing projects that anticipate recurrent problems, like fighting evictions and A/C breakdowns.
Interested in contributing? Reach out to any Research and Analysis Committee member or email us at valleytenants@proton.me.
All credit to friend of the union (and Food Not Bombs) Wolf for the incredible cover art!
What's new?
Updates
A/C Summer Program
This past Thursday, seven union members met to begin planning a proposed Summer A/C program. With a record summer likely incoming, landlords are ready to reap the benefits as tenants face yet another season of dilapidated or non-existent air conditioning, high electricity bills, and death to exposure.
We began by defining our goals and expectations - we hope to address the anxieties and inequalities that the summer and its heat highlight, to politicize these conditions. Much of this initiative is inspired by the People’s Cooling Army, a group spun out of the All Chicago Tenants Alliance. We took the time to review their own reflections on the PCAs efforts since 2023 - and to assess how those strategies may be translated for use throughout the Valley.
In the previous general meeting, we established two geographic projects to build tenant power throughout the year. These outreach groups in West Valley and Grant Park will spearhead efforts to meet and organize with fellow tenants where they are. We encourage anyone involved in these groups to keep A/C on their mind - a conversation on the conditions, questions, and fears our neighbors face during the summer months is very important to forming the shape this AC program will take.
Before we dive into installing and even fixing A/C units, we also decided that it’s important to assess the feasibility of this path. Do you know anyone that can fix A/C? A friend of a friend that works in HVAC, or has an old window unit laying around? We’d like to talk to them! In preparation for any Know Your Rights events, we are also researching AZ specific A/C laws.
Eviction Defense Working Group
“No matter how strong your case is, the legal system is always in favor of the landlord.”
“We need to build a culture of direct action.”
Recap: The February 28th meeting focused on the understanding eviction defense. We discussed the importance of community involvement, role of lawyers, and the need for a comprehensive approach to eviction defense. We also reviewed three different readings: Brooklyn Eviction Defense “We Keep Us Safe” Zine, ATUN 2020 Town Hall Notes and Atlanta’s Housing Justice League Eviction Defense Manual. We want to create a flow chart of what to do when tenants reach out in crisis and answer some of our questions below.
Why are we in this committee? We need to have eviction defense in our toolkit, be able to respond to crisis, know our rights, have support from community, know how to defend ourselves without needing a lawyer, housing justice & immigrant justice are connected, eviction defense is many things (legal, court, moving, raising funds etc.).
What are our goals of eviction defense? Keeping tenants housed, direct action, intervening between landlords/state/tenants, be the last-line of defense, understanding our risks as a tenant’s union, test of tenant power rather than legal safeguards, tenants protecting themselves, tenants navigating and leading the process with dignity, making sure people are able to get what they need.
Questions:
How can we make interventions before eviction happens?
What is the timeline of evictions and when can we intervene?
How can we target an out of state landlord? What does eviction defense look like in our context?
What risks are we willing to take as a union? What is our capacity?
When do constables show up?
March Update
Moving out on the landlord’s terms is an eviction.
In March, the Eviction Defense Committee was working through two imminent evictions.
The first fight was with a family from Lazy Daze Mobile Home Park, where the landlord and management was trying to evict them for “violating” their ‘Crime Free Housing’ Lease addendum and gain possession of their mobile home. Crime Free Housing Programs were created in the 90’s by cops and deemed as a “unique crime fighting tool” to fast-track evictions and turn tenants against each other in “block watch” committees (read our zine at valleytenants.org/post/police-protect-property). The community at Lazy Daze has been fighting against landlord neglect for years.
In 2022, they organized with support from the Poor People’s Campaign to stand against management about electrical issues that sparked fires. However, after talking with the family and the Poor People’s Campaign, it seems that organizing has stalled out due to successful intimidation and retaliation. On the court day, a handful of us from the tenants union and Poor People’s Campaign showed up for court support. Without legal representation and having witnessed lease violations of this sort go directly into the landlords’ favor, we were making plans for post-judgement and an impending writ to be issued.
What happened during the court is something that we could have never predicted; the judge dismissed the case! The ‘violation’ of the lease was deemed invalid due to the incident happening outside of the property - the legal case was thrown out! The grey area in law for once was used in tenants’ favor. However, due to the fear of being evicted, the family sold their mobile home and now are looking for other housing options.
The second eviction fight was a tenant being “lawfully” evicted from their home because their landlord refused to renew their lease, despite the tenants’ requests to fix important issues in their housing such as their sink. We were ready to bring union members to support this tenant in putting pressure on the landlord to renew her lease and call a retaliatory eviction, as the request (and landlord’s angry reaction) came shortly before the nonrenewal. However, the tenant decided to move out, which was understandable in the face of a shitty and rude landlord. This leaves two tenant families who are being forcibly displaced from their homes. Indirectly or not, moving on the landlord’s terms, constitutes an eviction.
Throughout this month, the committee will continue working on a process of how to support tenants in a legal and illegal eviction. This process will make sure that all members are able to participate and can be readied to fight an eviction. Additionally, the committee is hosting a ‘Court Watching’ Week in April where the public and tenant union members will witness the atrocities of the justice courts and brainstorm more ways to fight back. We are also reaching out to other Autonomous Tenant Unions to understand how they fight evictions. More information on all this to come soon! Please join our committee if you’re interested in fighting back against evictions, we meet biweekly on Wednesday at 7pm.
Grant Park Project
Grant Park had their first official meeting at a member’s house! The meeting started by getting an overview and the history of the neighborhood. It detailed different events that have happened and hallmark places that have been around for years. The rest of the meeting was about the future of group and what the focus should be. The main thing covered was establishing an outreach effort in the neighborhood. Talks of planning and coordinating tabling events in the neighborhood have started and the group hopes to have its first event in April. The meeting ended with the group planning a walking tour to get a grasp of the layout and learn more about how we can effectively target the neighborhood.
Update
Updates: we are working on a grant park flyer, researching the expansion of the APS power plant, and connecting with the local church and Friendly House.
We want to activate the community garden and bring neighbors there to meet. Does anyone have ideas on activities or events we could do? We’re thinking something intergenerational.
West Valley Project
The outreach group for the West Valley met today to discuss goals & strategies! Here's what we discussed:
GOAL: We want to strengthen organization in this area (between 35th Ave-43rd Ave and Van Buren-Thomas)! Our broad goal for this project is to identify & connect with tenants who have shared issues with neighbors & are wanting to take action. We want to focus organizing effort on tenants who are connected with their neighbors already or are experiencing similar issues as their neighbors, as opposed to more individualized single issues.
STRATEGIES: Outreach and investigation at school board meetings & laundromats!
School board - We were updated about the most recent Isaac school board meeting where cafeteria workers spoke out after news that their employer is shifting from the district to a third party. Next school board meeting is April 17th at 5pm at 3348 W McDowell Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85009.
Laundromats - On Sunday, March 16th, we held an outreach event at a nearby laundromat with five members. We set up a table featuring flyers, zines, donuts, laundry detergent and dryer sheets to help attract local patrons to talk about housing.
For about 90 minutes, the VTU team spoke to tenants about their housing conditions, offering them materials while chatting about the issues they’re facing. While many of the patrons were curious and took some items, only a few discussed their housing situations.
At 11:30 AM, the group packed up the table and debriefed in the parking lot. Although the event was successful, the team spent time identifying areas for improvement. Things such as: better preparation of materials, offering more food/drinks, providing a contact number, and refining talking points. Others include finding more affordable food and drinks to give out and a need for better preparation when distributing printed materials.
The event still had several positive aspects such as the material was well-received, obtaining contact information from a tenant and a landlord. The location worked well and the presence of Spanish-speaking VTU members helped engage with more people.
For future tabling events, the group plans to display a banner, improve food and flyer preparation, offer more efficient snack choices that are more affordable and have more food. A coffee dispenser would help a lot along with bringing tape or wheat paste for flyers and then preparing for conversations with houseless tenants.
The next West Phoenix outreach will be on April 13th at 9 AM. We’re currently planning to have biweekly outreach on the weekend, alternating between Saturdays and Sundays.
Abolish Rent Reading Group
Beginning in November 2024, on alternate Sundays, VTU members have hosted a reading group for 'Abolish Rent’ at Food Not Bombs' meals in Downtown Phoenix. After chipping away at the book, piece by piece, chapter by chapter, we’re almost finished and want to reflect on the effort so far!
Highlights:
We’ve had generative discussions with park residents and meal attendees. Common weekly themes include rent increases, evictions, luxury apartment development, buildings sitting empty while people are on the street, restrictive leases and park/public space rules stripping tenants of dignity and autonomy, increased policing and enforcement of arbitrary rules for tenants in public spaces, shelters and subsidized housing… and perhaps the most resonant: the need for class war.
After receiving some feedback about the legibility and some attendees' difficulties in understanding the text, we’ve provided large print chapter copies and written out summaries. We’ve also connected with tenants who are contributing interviews and art to our newsletters!
Room for growth and inquiry:
In recent weeks, fewer people have been in the park and at the meal. Attendance has shifted from majority park residents to people from various left organizations. Is this because the text, or approach in reading and discussion, is alienating or only appeals to housed tenants who are already anarchist, communist, or adjacent? (see: DSA and CPUSA attendance boom in the last month). Is this surge because everyone wants to “connect with community” now that Trump is back in office? The consequence of this uptick in org people is that the class (and age) composition of the group has skewed. On the other hand, we have witnessed an increase in surveillance at Civic Space Park (Phoenix PD, park rangers, ASU PD) and new ‘No Camping’ signs which can force away residents. Is what’s happening a result of the crackdown of mutual aid activities like in Tempe and the greater result of Grants Pass v. Johnson ruling in criminalizing homelessness?
Questions to consider: How can relationships and trust deepen beyond the reading group? Can a tenant association form out of this space? How can we meaningfully be in solidarity with unhoused tenants and tenants in subsidized housing if the majority of reading group attendees are comfortably housed? Some of these questions may be addressed as we finish Chapter 5, which will describe Echo Park Rise Up’s struggle against carceral housing and the criminalization of living outside.
Language Justice Committee
We meet the first Monday each month online to discuss how to ensure that anyone can be part of the tenants movement no matter the language they’re most comfortable with! We’ve recently been discussing the Intercambio Language Exchange, translation/interpretation needs, and migrant solidarity.
Research & Analysis Committee
We meet the third Tuesday each month online to research what’s relevant to us tenants and share information! We’ve recently focused on making the newsletter, reading groups, and uncovering sneaky landlords.
“What’s happening in our neighborhoods?”
Last April, the North/Central local approved the bluntly titled proposal: “We Need Tenant Associations” (TAs). In many ways, it represented a firm pivot in our organizing. We hadn’t exactly been stagnant in the previous months: we screened a documentary about the National Union of the Homeless’s Takeover of federal buildings in a friendly heat relief center alongside a blanket drive, hosted impromptu office hours/“Tenant Power Hours” for tenants in crisis, organized a successful Know Your Rights workshop, and arranged internal workshops on writing demand letters and starting TAs.
Nonetheless, the proposal locked in on something lacking. Our organizing introduced us to tenants from numerous backgrounds and class positions, but our local meetings comprised mostly the same core Valley Tenants Union (VTU) members. Where we met compounded this insularity: neutral, fairly isolated locations like churches, a coworking space after hours, a massive park, and inside the privacy of our homes. While we did discuss and support TAs, the local meetings felt detached from this organizing, something physically apart.
The April proposal challenged this: from then on, we’d meet in each other’s neighborhoods and apartments to get comfortable taking up space. We wanted to use this as an opportunity to door knock and catalyze new TAs. These meetings would focus more on connecting to each other and addressing what we want at the time than intensive planning. Following meetings usually centered around a simple, open question: “What’s happening in our apartments and neighborhoods?”
This approach has provided valuable experience as we’ve planted our folding chairs all over the valley, from Coronado to Grant Park to Melrose to Deer Valley. We’ve hosted invigorating discussions and learned more about a wide range of neighborhoods. Still, success has proven mixed and introduced new questions. Outreach to neighbors was inconsistent, and didn’t always involve other VTU members. We brought out nearby tenants in some areas more than others. Even where we did better, we largely bypassed houseless tenants and struggled to maintain TAs. The challenges ballooned for those who were the only VTU members pushing forward, while they were more manageable for those near even just one comrade committed to the same effort.
While we strategize for 2025, I want to emphasize a few key themes on reflection. Some only emerged in hindsight; we’ll get further if they inform each step from the start and we can communicate how as we continue onward.
Convenience. Joining the tenants movement proves far easier when it’s by your door. All the travel a meeting demands adds up to gallons of gas and transit fares; logistical, financial, time, and psychological costs that feel easier to pass up after a long day of work, childcare, etc. Minimizing them by joining spaces that tenants already inhabit meant more participation across the typical class, age, and cultural barriers we strive to overcome.
Capacity. Casting a wide net pulled in many potent connections and learning opportunities while it stretched us threadbare. Our limits as individuals meant that setbacks, crises, and the piling weight of life crushed our momentum. Straining organizational capacity meant the support we wanted wasn’t there (or enough), fertile ground for resentment. We’ll know we’ve advanced if we can adequately support existing/emergent TA organizing while we sustain wider outreach projects.
Commitment. Revolutionary socialist and Detroit luminary Grace Lee Boggs wasn’t wrong: "organization means commitment". Leave your commitment issues in 2024! A strong, organized tenant movement won’t bloom from a long string of first impressions. In my neighborhood, trust grew from repeated contact. Tenants opened up about dire issues, like mold spreading into their kid’s bedroom, only when they saw that we were more than floaters.
Class. We, and tenants, come from different backgrounds. Oversimplifying, some work cushier jobs where homeownership falls within grasp; retreating to comforts and consumption comes easily. Some fight anxiety and shame the first of each month; razor sharp stakes leave so much to win and lose. Blurring these differences or navel-gazing guiltily only serves the comfortable. If the former can’t forge genuine solidarity with the latter, we can expect flimsy and inert TAs at best.
Conditions. Taking the last points seriously means committing ourselves where we’re needed. As an organization, we’ll have to make hard political choices to make our capacity count. Secrets of a Successful Organizer made it plain: go where issues are widely and deeply felt. Either we already know where that is through experience, or we’ll need strongly supported theories. Chasing isolated problems in relatively comfy locales will run us off track.
Now, we’ve shifted away from overly broad “North/Central” local meetings to focus on committed neighborhood outreach projects where we think prospects are strongest. It’s too early to draw conclusions, but we’ll share updates on the path to tenant power.
Intercambio Language Exchange
The Language Justice Committee has aimed to break down language barriers in communication, partly through collective practice. However, the few practices we held have centered on English dominant speakers. After one Spanish speaking tenant had to schedule around English classes, we eventually realized it could help to organize practices useful for both Spanish and English learners.
That's how we came to the Intercambio inspired by experience with conversation groups and a website called ConversationExchange. We meet, try to pair up between English and Spanish learners, and practice communicating together. We're approaching it as an experiment, as we haven't tried something quite like it before, and understanding different experience levels will lead to complications.
We held the first one on 2/9 at noon in an apartment in the west valley with 5 people present (2 practicing English, 3 otherwise). Though the initial plan was to pair up and practice prompts, the English learners wanted to start with fundamentals like pronunciation after our greetings. We printed out an alphabet with vocab terms, said them out loud in both languages, then wrote and translated sentences with them.
The change of plans didn't stop it from being useful practice and a good time. We even got to share some red cards with know your rights material to be distributed through our circles. Those hosting it offered to keep it up weekly so that we don't get rusty. Next time, it may help to bring more basic practice materials to lean on if we aren't ready to start with full conversations. There'll be more to say after we try more, but I highly encourage any tenants interested in practicing either language to reach out and join us.
April 2025 Calendar
