Contribute to this campaign: Join the Tenants Union!

The Tenants Union is on the move, organizing tenants in Washington State for housing justice. We're winning important victories, but we're limited by our financial resources. Help build the movement to protect and expand tenants rights and make the promise of safe, healthy, affordable housing a reality:

More information...

Section 8 Tenants Organizing Manual

Introduction

The purpose of this web page is to help you learn how to organize with other tenants to defend, assert, and expand your rights. If you organize well, you can help build a movement to not only protect and expand your rights but also win respect and a voice in your future.

The most important existing right you have is your right to organize. Section 8 tenants in Minnesota along with tenants from around the country campaigned to win a federal law specifically protecting the right of Section 8 tenants to organize. It is through organizing that all your other rights have come to exist, and it is through organizing that you gain the power to decide which newer, stronger rights you need.

The history of the tenants movement and all movements for social change has shown that the single most powerful way for tenants to organize is to stand together in large numbers and take collective action against injustice. There are many different ways to exercise the power you gain from working together.

And since there are so many more of us than there are landlords, it is we who really hold the power. For instance, consider this: tenants could survive if there were no landlords, but landlords could not survive if there were no tenants. It makes one wonder, who is dependent on whom?

If we organize collectively, we can draw public attention to the fact that the system tenants are in is not unchangeable. We can set a powerful example by taking a stand together against a setup that is stacked in favor of the rich and powerful. And remember, the more tenants are educated, organized, and mobilized, the more control we will have over our lives and our future.

Why Organize a Tenant Council

There are many reasons to organize a tenant council. The biggest one is that when we try to defend, assert, or expand our rights or position in society all by ourselves we are weak, ineffective, and constantly ignored. But when we stand together and make the same demands, we have power. We are much more effective and we cannot be easily ignored.

People come together in tenant councils for the same reasons they come together in labor unions, civil rights groups, women's groups and many other kinds of organizations: because working together wins concrete improvements in people's lives, builds a sense of community and personal power, and wins us more control over our daily lives.

When you make a decision to organize a tenant council, you are turning the day-to-day world of alienation, isolation, and greed on its head. By rejecting this model, you are making a commitment to your fellow tenants in the building to work together for the common good. At the same time, you are building community where community may not have existed before. If you organize well, personal issues and prejudices will no longer be able to keep you divided; as people organize, it's quite common for these divisions to dissolve. This is another great reason to organize!

What issues can we organize around?

Section 8 tenants often have similar issues that they choose to organize around. Following are some typical issues:

How to Organize Your Tenant Council

Anyone can organize. To be successful you may want to look at what others have done, as well as get advice from other tenants who have organized or from organizers at tenant organizations. The following is an overview of how to get started.

Outreach

The first thing you need to figure out is what the common problems are that you share with your neighbors. The best way to figure this out is to talk to your neighbors by knocking on their doors, introducing yourself, getting to know them, and asking them what problems or concerns they have. Share what is important to you and then ask what is important to them or what they would change if they could make any change they want. This is usually called doorknocking. The most important thing to keep in mind is to listen to people.

Compile a list of issues that come up and keep a list of names and numbers of who you talk to so you can get in touch later. This list can be used to contact your neighbors for organizing meetings, in case of emergencies, or just to get to know each other. As you go door to door, ask people to make a small commitment to the organizing efforts such as handing out flyers, coming to a meeting, or talking to a neighbor. Make a note of what people say they will do and follow up with them. This builds commitment to your organizing efforts.

As you go through this process, often you will find other people in the building who are as interested as you are in organizing around the issues. You could call these people back and arrange to meet with them later so you can work together.

First meeting

Usually the next step after you talk with everyone in the building is to plan a meeting. The key to a successful meeting is to have a clear, achievable goal and purpose for meeting. People get discouraged if they go to a meeting where everyone just complains and lists what's wrong. It's important to move from listing problems to taking action to solve them.

If you live in a very large building or complex you might want to start with small meetings on each floor or in each building and then plan a complex-wide meeting.

Before you call the meeting contact the tenants who said they were interested in organizing and get together to make flyers, call everyone on your list, set up a proposed agenda, and make other necessary arrangements to make it happen. The more people who are involved in planning and making the meeting happen the more successful it will be because more people will be recruiting friends and neighbors to attend and your effort will be stronger.

At the first big meeting, the group should elect a facilitator. The facilitator has two main parts to their job. The first is to keep a running list of those who have shown that they want to speak by raising their hand, and to call on them when it is their turn. Second, the facilitator should make sure that everyone is aware of what agenda item is being discussed so that people don't go off on other topics. If the meeting doesn't accomplish anything, many will never come back.

It's a good idea to set some ground rules at the beginning of the meeting so it's not all on the facilitator's shoulders to control who talks when. Ground rules can be things like; raise your hand to speak, one person talk at a time, respect what people say, people who haven't said anything get a chance to talk before others who have already spoken, and large decisions are made by majority vote. Make up your own ground rules for your own group and agree to follow them.

Plan a campaign

After you have identified as a group what issues you want to organize around, then come up with a basic plan for how you can work together to get what you want. This usually involves figuring out which issues are the most important to the most people while keeping in mind what you can win with the power you've got. You are most likely to win your goal if it is specific, measurable (meaning you'll be able to clearly tell if you win it), and achievable with the resources you have or can get.

At the big meeting, you can vote on which issue to tackle first. You will also need to make a plan of how to win the change you decide to pursue and give as many people as possible a role to play. Remember, if you can win a small victory first, you might get more support for bigger issues later.

After you've gotten the ball rolling, it's probably a good time to make a decision about what kind of structure you want for the tenant council. Even if you don't want any particular structure at all, it can be helpful to look at the different ways other tenants have organized.

Choosing Your Tenant Council's Structure

There are many types of ways to structure your tenant council, and each has its individual advantages and disadvantages. Following are some of the typical ways that tenant councils are structured. Keep in mind that these are not set in stone, and that a mixture of any or all of these ways can be used. And of course, new ideas that you come up with of running a tenant council can also be used!

Parliamentary

In a parliamentary tenant council, there is usually an elected President, Vice-President, and a Secretary-Treasurer. The President is considered to be the head of the organization, and has the most authority. The Vice-President fills in for the President when needed, and carries out tasks delegated by the President. The Secretary-Treasurer keeps meeting minutes, records and maintains a bank account and a ledger of the tenant council's finances. Sometimes rather than electing a one-person President and Vice-President, a Steering Committee of 5 or 10 people is elected instead. The President usually writes the agenda of the meeting, but this task could be rotated. The officers sometimes make decisions without the other members.

Committee-Secretary

In the committee-secretary model, there is no President or Vice-President that lead the group. Instead, the entire membership leads by direct democracy, and all members have equal voice and vote on all matters. Committees are formed and dissolved as needed to carry out tasks, and an elected Secretary-Treasurer keeps meeting minutes, records and maintains a bank account (if the group decides it wants one) and a ledger of the resident council's finances. At the end of each meeting, a Chairperson for the next meeting is elected to write up an agenda.

Non-organized

The non-organized model is what usually exists before choosing one of the first two models. However, some tenants prefer to keep this model for the long term as well. In this model, there is no central keeper of records,committees are not formed to carry out tasks, and there is no accountability. Instead, individuals volunteer to do things and sometimes follow through, and sometimes don't. If the tenant council were to fall apart, the records of the resident council would be lost, and things would fall apart at the building as well. In this model, an unelected, defacto president often writes the agenda.

How Might The Landlord React?

As you begin to organize, you should be prepared for how the landlord might react. It is also very important to give your fellow tenants a picture of what to expect, so that when it happens they don't get scared off.

Landlords, like those in power generally, are often surprised when those who "live under their thumb" start to organize for their interests. If this has never happened before they may do one of many things. These include:

Tenants successfully defend themselves against these things (most of which are completely illegal) all the time - usually by standing together and being prepared. Some things tenants have done include copying the "Right to Organize" policy from HUD and posting it around the building, and using demonstrations or other direct actions. They also get other organizations in the community to put pressure on the owner. Getting the media to cover the story doesn't hurt either.

Funding Your Tenant Council

As you choose the structure for your tenant council, one thing that is sure to come up is the question of money. There are many ways to get money for your tenant council, and each choice has its advantages and disadvantages.

The first choice you will have to make is whether you want to have a Treasurer and a bank account, or if you would rather just keep your treasury "in the members' pockets". If you have a Treasurer and a bank account, you run the risk of potential disagreements and splits over who controls the money and where it is or is not. If you go this route, which is best suited to larger amounts of money, here are a few ideas:

Some tenant councils opt to avoid this route and instead just raise the money when it's actually needed by getting donations from members and grassroots fundraising. Following are a few typical methods:

Joining the Larger Movement

The purpose of organizing is to bring people together so that they will have more power. But there are many different levels on which people "come together".

When you organize in your building, you are bringing people together at the most local level possible. This is the thread that keeps the fabric of the larger tenant and social justice movements together on the larger scale. But without being directly woven in with these movements, the tenant council is isolated from the bigger picture, which is where the larger, longer lasting changes take place.

There are many organizations that you could affiliate your tenant council with statewide, nationwide, or internationally to weave your organization's thread into the fabric of the movement.

The Tenants Union is the organization that made this booklet possible. We are a statewide, membership-based organization that helps Washington State tenants to organize for their interests, and to sustain and connect existing tenant councils to the larger statewide movement. To affiliate your Tenant Council with the Tenants Union, which will entitle you to a number of benefits, your Tenant Council needs to meet three basic requirements.

  1. 25% of the tenants in your building must be individual members of the Tenants Union.

  2. You must vote at a meeting to which all tenants are invited to affiliate with the Tenants Union.

  3. You must vote to adopt the Tenants Union Principles of Unity as your own.

Tenants Union
3902 S. Ferdinand
Seattle, WA 98118
(206) 722-6848
http://www.tenantsunion.org

The National Alliance of HUD Tenants is a nation-wide organization of tenants who live in federally-assisted housing. Member tenant councils work together to preserve affordable housing, protect tenants rights, and promote tenant ownership and control - especially at the federal level. Voting membership in NAHT is open to tenant councils that meet regularly and are democratic, representative, and independent of management. Dues for tenant council membership are $25 yearly.

National Alliance of HUD Tenants
353 Columbus Ave.
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 267-9564

Long-term Maintenance of Your Tenant Council

Every tenant council runs into snags here and there. Sometimes individual personalities just rub each other the wrong way, while other times divisions appear between race, age, gender, ability or other lines. And sometimes the problem is the fact the old tenant leaders have moved on, while new ones were not developed.

These problems are often a product of a society which puts profit before people, difference before unity, and conflict before cooperation. Since most tenants were raised in this society, we are products of it - so there must be a common understanding and commitment to what we are fighting for, and how we intend to get there together.

If the group starts to lose focus, consider writing a mission statement for the tenant council to endorse. Sometimes this can help to illustrate the pettiness of division and might help folks remember what got you started organizing against injustice in the first place. You can also hold a meeting addressing such issues and bring outside speakers to come and talk with the group.

Often it may be a problem of power. If your tenant council uses a Parliamentary structure that gives the most authority to a small group of people, often the membership will become restless with the way in which that authority is used.

In all cases, it makes sense to keep lines of communication between officers and the membership open. One policy that can help your tenant council to remain representative of the membership is to have an "immediate recall" policy. This means that any officer may be voted out of office at any time by democratic vote of the membership.

When old campaigns have passed on, don't hesitate to pick up a new one right away. Nothing kills the spirit of a tenant council as quickly as a lack of activity.

The most important thing however, is the ongoing skill development of the membership. Often the people who come forward to lead in the beginning are those who already have decent organizing skills. But when those people become tired, or they move away, the building is left with nothing. It might even revert to the stage it was at before any organizing took place - and that's a real shame. The goal should be for all of the membership to be developed as leaders. Then, leadership could rotate, or be taken on by different tenants for different issue areas.

Glossary of HUD-Speak Terms

As you organize, you will come across many terms and acronums that may be unfamiliar to you. Tenant activists call this language "HUD-speak". This technical and special language creates a barrier which prevents low-income people and others from understanding issues that affect our lives and keeps us from knowing how to expand our rights. Here are plain-English translations of some of the more common terms you will encounter.

Eyes and Ears
Regional meetings initiated by both the Tenants Union and NAHT with tenant associations and local and national HUD multifamily housing staff to meet face to face and identify problems and work out solutions.

Fair Market Rent (FMR)
The rent amount determined by HUD and sometimes used to set the standard for how much rent HUD will give an owner. HUD figures FMR by looking at all the rents in a given area, generally a region around a city, and figuring out 90% of the average rent in the area.

FOIA (Freedom of Information Act)
A law that requires requested information to be provided within ten working days. The public can file FOIA requests by sending a letter to a government agency and requesting information.

Haircut
A "haircut" is the same thing as an OMHAR Lite. It is a version of the "Mark to Market" program in which HUD reduces the amount of money an owner receives in rent. A haircut is a building where the owner of a Section 8 property gets a cut in the rent they are receiving from HUD but decides not to accept the financial incentives HUD offers. By refusing the incentives, the owner avoids being required to sign a 30-year Section 8 contract and just goes on renewing year by year.

Housing Quality Standards
Maintenance and safety standards used by HUD to evaluate apartments in subsidized housing programs.

HUD
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is the federal agency that was set up to oversee and administer public and subsidized housing programs. It also provides funds to cities, states, and counties for homeless programs, rent assistance, and urban development.

HUD Assisted Multifamily Housing
Housing owned privately, but subsidized by the government.

ITAG
Intermediary Technical Assistance Grant. A grant program administered by HUD which gives grants directly to tenant groups. If the tenant association is a registered non-profit they can apply directly to the local ITAG administrator for a grant. If not the group can ask a non-profit agency , such as the Tenants Union to be its "fiscal sponsor".

LIHPRHA
This acronym stands for "Low Income Housing Preservation and Resident Home Ownership Act". Until the government began the massive deregulation of social services in the past decade (which ended LIHPRHA), this program gave Section 8 tenants the first right to purchase their building and money to buy it should it go up for sale or the owner decide to get out of the program.

Mark To Market
A HUD program that requires a reduction in the amount of money the government pays to owners of buildings down to the amount of rent the building could earn on the open market. In exchange for this reduction, HUD gives the owner additional funds for rehabilitation. If an owner goes through the Mark to Market program then they must sign a 30 year Section 8 contract.

Mark Up To Market
A HUD program that increases the amount of money the government pays to owners of building up to the amount of rent the building could earn on the open market. In exchange for these additional funds, the owner must sign a 5-year contract to stay in the Section 8 program.

NAHT (National Alliance of HUD Tenants)
A nationwide coalition of tenant associations and supporting organizations that work to preserve and defend subsidized housing.

OMHAR Lite
The same thing as a "Haircut". It is a version of the "Mark to Market" program where HUD reduces the amount of money an owner receives in rent. A haircut is a building where the owner of a Section 8 property gets a cut in the rent they are receiving from HUD but decides not to accept the financial incentives HUD offers. By refusing the incentives the owners avoids being required to sign a 30 year Section 8 contract and just goes on renewing year by year.

Opt-out
A term that describes when an owner decides to get out of the Project-based Section 8 housing program.

Prepayment
When an owner pays off the remaining debt on an insured or subsidized mortgage. Prepaying the loan absolves them of any obligation to maintain low rents or follow other requirement of the regulatory agreement.

Public Housing
Subsidized housing owned by the state or federal government and administrated by local agencies such as the Seattle Housing Authority.

Right of First Refusal
A law the Tenants Union has been trying to get passed in the city of Seattle to give tenants the first right to buy their building if an owner chooses to sell, since LIHPRHA no longer exists.

Seattle Housing Authority
Local agency that oversees the public housing projects and the tenant-based Section 8 certificate and voucher programs.

Payment Standard
The maximum amount of rent subsidy the housing authority will provide to a tenant who has tenant-based Section 8.

Project-based Section 8
Subsidized housing assistance in which the private owner of the building has a "Section 8 Contract" with HUD, and the tenant pays only 30% of their income for rent.

REAC
The Real Estate Assessment Center- A HUD department located in Washington DC which is responsible for doing all the inspections of HUD owned, subsidized or managed property.

Section 8 Tenant Organizing Project (STOP)
A project of the Tenants Union to organize tenants in at-risk Section 8 buildings.

Tenant-based Section 8
A portable rent subsidy, a voucher or certificate, given to individual tenants through the housing authority that only covers the difference between 30% of a tenant's income and the payment standard set by the housing authority. This means that tenants are often priced out of the market.

Tenant Relocation Assistance Act
A Seattle law which requires owners to provide money to help a tenant move if they are displaced as a result of a rent increase of 20% or more after an owner opts out of a project-based subsidy.

The Tenants Union
A statewide, membership-based organization fighting for tenants rights in Washington State since 1976.

Posted: Sunday, December 19, 2004