NLIHC’s research team continues to work with the organization’s 2025 Southeastern Tenant Protections Cohort (SE Cohort). The SE Cohort is comprised of housing advocates from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee working to advance, implement, and enforce tenant protections within their state and local jurisdictions, as well as to uplift tenant leadership and engagement while centering racial equity in their work to strengthen renters’ rights. The SE Cohort formally launched in December 2024 with five state teams comprised of housing advocates, legal service providers, and tenant leaders and organizers. NLIHC provided capacity building grants to each of the five state teams to support the development of strategic advocacy campaigns, ongoing technical assistance, and peer-to-peer learning opportunities.
NLIHC recently convened the SE cohort in Atlanta, Georgia from July 24–25, 2025 to share each team’s progress; discuss challenges in advancing tenant protection policies in the South; and uplift areas of opportunity for coalition-building, power-sharing, and developing innovative measures to safeguard renters against the threat of eviction and housing instability. The cohort will conclude in December 2025.
NLIHC’s state and local research team continues to track tenant protection policies across the country. As evidenced by NLIHC’s State and Local Tenant Protections Database, tenant protection policies, which are legal safeguards that protect tenants at all stages of their lease terms (and also when an eviction filing has been levied against a tenant) have been gaining momentum across the country.
For questions about NLIHC’s Southeastern Tenant Protections Cohort or the tenant protections database, please contact Nada Hussein, NLIHC’s State and Local Research Analyst at [email protected].