The Kansas City Tenants Union, also known as KC Tenants, is a non-profit tenant's union in Kansas City, Missouri. It was founded in 2019 by Tiana Caldwell and Tara Raghuveer. [1] [2]
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| Founded | 2019 [1] |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Kansas City, Missouri |
| Location |
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Key people | Tiana Caldwell, Diane Charity, Brandy Granados, and Tara Raghuveer (co-founders) |
| Affiliations | Tenant Union Federation |
| Website | kctenants |
KC Tenants was founded with an annual budget of $30,000, which has grown to almost $600,000 in June 2023. [1] The union has worked together with Mayor Quinton Lucas on housing policy, [3] notably passing a tenant's bill of rights in 2019 that included banning "discrimination against prospective tenants solely because of a prior arrest, conviction or eviction." [4] KC Tenants has clashed with landlords and the courts over specific eviction cases [5] and the COVID eviction moratorium. [6] The group has a tenants' hotline and an incident report form for renters experiencing housing issues or who have questions about renters' rights. [7]
The organization pressured the city into passing a tenants right to counsel policy, which provides free legal counseling for renters facing eviction filings. [8] [9] In January 2024, Kansas City City Council passed a source of income discrimination ban advocated by KC Tenants. [10] [11] [12] The group also advocates for a "People's Housing Trust Fund" to build affordable housing, originally to be funded through reducing the Kansas City police department budget. [13]
The Kansas City Homeless Union formed in January 2021 with support from KC Tenants. [14] The two groups have demonstrated together for housing policy reform. [15]
KC Tenants launched its political wing in October 2022 named KC Tenants Power. [16]
In June 2023, candidates endorsed by KC Tenants Power won four out of the thirteen Kansas City city council commissioner seats, losing two races. [17]
In August 2024, KC Tenants, Connecticut Tenant Union, Louisville Tenant Union, Bozeman Tenants United, and Not Me We founded the Tenant Union Federation. [18] [19] The federation describes its goals as: "use the collective power of its locals to negotiate better living conditions for renters, slow the commodification of housing, help establish alternatives to the predominant market-based solution to housing, guarantee housing as a public utility, and create economic and political power for its renters." [20] The federation's first campaign hopes to cap rent on housing managed by the federal government.
On Friday, September 27, 2024, KC Tenants announced rent strikes at Independence Towers and Quality Hill Towers beginning October 1. Union members demanded collectively bargained lease agreements, new ownership of the apartment complexes, and a federal rent cap. [21] The strikes focused on the properties' landlords, as well as the Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) and Fannie Mae. Tenants were expected to withhold $60,000 of rent in the first month of the strike between the two complexes. [22] As of October 1, 65% of Independence Towers residents had joined the rent strike. [23] Kansas City congressman Emmanuel Cleaver said in September 2024 he would support a rent strike at Independence Towers. [24]
In the United States, rent control refers to laws or ordinances that set price controls on the rent of residential housing to function as a price ceiling. More loosely, "rent control" describes several types of price control:
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant. When a juristic person is in this position, the term landlord is used. Other terms include lessor and owner. The term landlady may be used for the female owners. The manager of a pub in the United Kingdom, strictly speaking a licensed victualler, is referred to as the landlord/landlady. In political economy it refers to the owner of natural resources alone from which an economic rent, a form of passive income, is the income received.
Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosed by a mortgagee.
A rent strike is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants come together and agree to refuse to pay their rent en masse until a specific list of demands is met by the landlord. This can be a useful tactic of final resort for use against intransigent landlords, but carries the risk of eviction and lowered credit scores in some cases.
The Ellis Act is a 1985 California state law that allows landlords to evict residential tenants to "go out of the rental business" in spite of desires by local governments to compel them to continue providing rental housing.
Source of income discrimination describes when landlords refuse to rent to tenants using housing vouchers or other government assistance. Housing advocates argue the practice keeps vulnerable communities from accessing housing, although landlords point to lack of protections for tenants as their right to refuse service.
The Costa–Hawkins Rental Housing Act ("Costa–Hawkins") is a California state law enacted in 1995, placing limits on municipal rent control ordinances. Costa–Hawkins preempts the field in two major ways. First, it prohibits cities from establishing rent control over certain kinds of residential units, such as single-family dwellings, condominiums, and newly constructed apartment units. Second, it prohibits "vacancy control", also called "strict" rent control. The legislation was sponsored by Democratic Senator Jim Costa and Republican assembly member Phil Hawkins.
Arizona Tenants Advocates (ATA) is a non-profit renters' union and tenants' rights organization located in Tempe, Arizona. It was founded in 2001 by Kenneth A. Volk, a prominent Arizona tenants' rights advocate.
Eviction in the United States refers to the pattern of tenant removal by landlords in the United States. In an eviction process, landlords forcibly remove tenants from their place of residence and reclaim the property. Landlords may decide to evict tenants who have failed to pay rent, violated lease terms, or possess an expired lease. Landlords may also choose not to renew a tenant's lease, however, this does not constitute an eviction. In the United States, eviction procedures, landlord rights, and tenant protections vary by state and locality. Historically, the United States has seen changes in domestic eviction rates during periods of major socio-political and economic turmoil—including the Great Depression, the 2008 Recession, and the COVID-19 pandemic. High eviction rates are driven by affordable housing shortages and rising housing costs. Across the United States, low-income and disadvantaged neighborhoods have disproportionately higher eviction rates. Certain demographics—including low income renters, Black and Hispanic renters, women, and people with children—are also at a greater risk of eviction. Additionally, eviction filings remain on renters' public records. This can make it more difficult for renters to access future housing, since most landlords will not rent to a tenant with a history of eviction. Eviction and housing instability are also linked to many negative health and life outcomes, including homelessness, poverty, and poor mental and physical health.
Margot Black is an American tenant rights organizer, activist, grass-roots lobbyist and former political candidate. She helped found and was co-chair of Portland Tenants United, Portland's metro-wide tenant union focused on tenants' rights to secure, safe, affordable and equitable housing, tenant-union organizing, eviction prevention, and providing emergency assistance for renters navigating housing law.
Cancel rent is a slogan and tenant rights movement in the United States, which advocates for the cancellation of rental payments and suspension of mortgage payments during the coronavirus pandemic. Activists and organizations have also presented other demands, which include the cancellation of housing-related expenses, cancellation of late fees for housing payments, the establishment of a landlord hardship fund, an increase in emergency housing, and an eviction moratorium. The movement was triggered by the economic impact of the pandemic, in which mass business closures and employee layoffs resulted in financial insecurity for many Americans. Tenants faced a range of issues, including the inability to pay rent, harassment or intimidation from landlords, and potential eviction. This situation put tenants at risk of damaged credit ratings, food insecurity, and homelessness. Consequently, activists, tenants rights organizations, and some politicians have called for the cancellation of rent.
A tenants union, also known as a tenants association, is a group of tenants that collectively organize to improve the conditions of their housing and mutually educate about their rights as renters. Groups may also lobby local officials to change housing policies or address homelessness.
Just cause eviction, also known as good cause eviction, describes laws that aim to provide tenants protection from unreasonable evictions, rent hikes, and non-renewal of lease agreements. These laws allow tenants to challenge evictions in court that are not for "legitimate" reasons. Generally, landlords oppose just-cause eviction laws due to concerns over profit, housing stock, and court cases.
Lease-by-room, also known as individual leasing, is an arrangement whereby a tenant and their roommates pay rent for their own rooms instead of each tenant being equally liable for the rent for the whole apartment. Typically lease-by-room leases are multi-room apartments or townhomes with shared bathrooms and living rooms. What distinguishes lease-by-room leases from joint leases is that tenants take on a lower financial risk, as they will not have to cover if their roommates do not pay rent and they cannot be evicted if their roommates fall behind on payments.
The 1918–1920 New York City rent strikes were some of the most significant tenant mobilizations against landlords in New York City history. Prior to the strikes, a housing shortage caused by World War I exacerbated tenant conditions, with the construction industry being redirected to wartime efforts. In addition, newly available defense jobs attracted thousands of new families to the city, further driving property vacancy rates down. As a result, overcrowding, poor conditions, frequent raising of rents and speculation by landlords were common. These long term circumstances, and a nationwide coal shortage which culminated in a dangerous heating crisis for tenants, became the catalysts for the subsequent organizing and wave of rent strikes across the city.
Tenant right to counsel (TRTC) provides tenants with legal representation regardless of their ability to pay, especially when tenants face eviction. Without a right to counsel, tenants are typically represented by lawyers around 3% of the time, whereas landlords have legal representation in 80% of cases. TRTC is viewed as a form of homelessness prevention. Generally, tenant right to counsel programs are successful, resulting in lower eviction rates and more time for tenants to move for those who do not stay in their homes.
Bozeman Tenants United is a tenant's union based in Bozeman, Montana. According to the Tenant Union Federation, which Bozeman Tenants United cofounded, the union has over 200 members and 130 pay union dues. Its founders are organizers who were involved in Bozeman United for Racial Justice.
Since October 1, 2024, members of the Kansas City Tenants Union in the cities of Kansas City, Missouri and Independence, Missouri began a rent strike after voted approval and failed negotiations with their landlords and Fannie Mae. Tenants of Independence Towers and Quality Hill Towers, two apartment complexes involved with the dispute, have complained about poor living conditions, with maintenance reports going unadressed. This is the first rent strike in the area since 1980, and the first ever targeting the federal government of the United States.
The Tenant Union Federation (TUF) is a national federation of tenants' unions in the United States, describing itself as a "union of unions".
The Renters' Rights Bill 2024 is a proposed Act of Parliament designed to improve the rights of people renting homes in the United Kingdom, and has been called a "key plank of the government's housing reforms".
