By Sid Betancourt, NLIHC
This article was adapted from an interview with John Atlas, a leader in the tenant organizing movement during the 1970s and ‘80s and the co-founder of Shelterforce, a publication that focuses on stories about affordable housing, including tenant organizing.
John Atlas grew up during tumultuous times – the era of the Civil Rights Movement, the War on Poverty, and the Vietnam War protests. Martin Luther King, Jr., had the most significant influence on him. But he was also inspired by the “radical pragmatism” of Saul Alinsky, Eugene Debs, and the leaders of the SNCC who coordinated the youth-led, nonviolent, direct-action campaigns against segregation and other forms of racism. They reaffirmed the traditional American values of liberty, equality, democratic elections, rights of minorities, multiple loyalties, volunteerism, and participatory citizenship.
John earned a law degree from Boston University Law School and a master of law degree from George Washington University Law School in the early 1970s. In D.C., he worked with a community group fighting displacement in the city’s low-income Shaw neighborhood, learning from black women leaders about the power of organizing against rising land costs and relocations. Despite challenges, he managed to secure housing funds for low-income residents from powerful figures in D.C.
John soon moved to New Jersey, where he was closer to his brother. While running a legal aid program that represented thousands of low-income clients a year, he helped build what many believe was one of the most successful tenants’ rights groups: the New Jersey Tenant Organization (NJTO). The group won fights for rent stabilization in over 100 municipalities and successfully pushed for a state just cause eviction law. To protect tenants’ rights, NJTO helped build a multi-issue group called New Jersey Citizen Action that coalesced with unions and helped lower utility rates, make mortgages more affordable, protect the public from toxic dumping, and increase taxes on the rich.
NJTO was composed mainly of middle-class people, which in John’s eyes made the group not as inclusive as it might have been. Energized by the group’s victories, John started Shelterforce in 1975 with some close friends, a decision which eventually led to the formation of the National Tenants Union (NTU) in 1980. NTU achieved some amazing triumphs, including successfully coordinating a national response against a congressional amendment to a funding bill that threatened state rent stabilization laws. (Read more about the history of the NTU here.)
Tenant organizing, John emphasizes, isn’t easy; it requires strong relationships and excellent communication. You must be able to respect everybody involved and work together to advocate against harmful actors, whether governments, landlords, property managers, or others. John remarks that having fun is also part of the work – otherwise, it would be that much more difficult to do!
In 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected president, making tenant organizing harder than it had been before. It seemed at the time that those in power believed racism was a tool to maintain their control, and they seemed more than willing to wield this tool, making it hard for many grassroots movements, including those of tenants, to stay alive. There were many attacks on affordable housing from the Reagan administration, and many people who had the privilege to do so – mainly middle-class folks – moved on from tenant organizing and began other careers.
Such experiences resulted in setbacks but also led to important realizations that have shaped John’s approach to advocacy. For aspiring tenant organizers, John advises creating organizations that build collective power among people of different classes, races, genders, and other categories. He explains that “you can transcend issues of race and class when you bring people together around issues that impact everyone. Tenant rights have always done that.” John also recommends that tenants play the “inside-outside game,” primarily focusing on building a membership base by winning issues through organizing and marching, but also getting involved in elections, such as by running for office or working to get out the vote.